thousand piastres. All the Bedouins participated in his affliction, and the Drayhy gave him one of his best horses, very inferior however to the superb animal he had lost. The next day the battle was renewed with increased fury, and our loss was more considerable than that of the enemy. We were obliged to act with extreme caution, having only fifteen thousand troops to oppose to him. Forty of our men fell into their hands, while we made only fifteen prisoners; but amongst these was Hamed, son of the chief Saker. The captives on both sides were put in irons. To these two days of fighting succeeded a tacit truce of three, during which the two armies continued to face each other without any demonstration of hostility. On the third day, the chief Saker, with a single attendant, came to our camp. He was uneasy for his son, a valiant young man, adored by his father and by all the Bedouins of his tribe; and he came to ransom him. Hamed had been very well treated by us; I had myself bound up his wounds. The Drayhy received Saker with great distinction. The latter, after the customary civilities, spoke of the war--expressed his astonishment at the Drayhy’s ardour against the Wahabees, and said that he could not credit so much disinterestedness, under which some secret motives or personal views must needs be couched. “You cannot take it ill,” added he, “that I do not engage with you without knowing your object. Take me into your confidence, and I will second you to the utmost of my power.” We replied, that we were not in the habit of admitting to our secrets those of whose friendship we had no assurance; but that if he chose to sign our treaty, we should have no concealments from him. He then asked to be made acquainted with this engagement, and after having listened to a lecture of the different articles, with which he seemed to be very well content, he assured us that things had been very differently represented to him, and repeated the calumnies that Absi had spread concerning us. He ended by affixing his seal to the treaty, and afterwards pressed us to explain the object we were aiming at. Sheik Ibrahim told him that our intention was to open a passage from the coasts of Syria to the frontiers of India, to an army of a hundred thousand men, under a powerful conqueror, who would relieve the Bedouins from the yoke of the Turks, restore to them the sovereignty of the country, and enable them to obtain possession of the treasures of India. He affirmed that there was nothing to be lost, but every thing to gain, in the execution of this project, the success of which depended upon the union of forces and the harmony of inclinations. He promised that their camels should be paid at a high price for the transport of the provisions for this great army, and made him look to the commerce of these vast countries as likely to become a source of inexhaustible riches to them.