We went from thence to El Sarha, a district abundantly supplied with water and herbage, and here expected to be indemnified for our privations; but a particular circumstance speedily dashed our hopes. The soil is covered with an herb called _Kraffour_, which the camels eat with avidity, and which has the property of inebriating them to the point of madness. They run to the right and left, breaking every thing they encounter, overthrowing the tents, and pursuing the men. During four-and-twenty hours no one could get any rest; the Bedouins were constantly employed in mastering the camels and in calming their fury. I should have preferred actual war to this continual struggle with animals whose prodigious strength, and delirious exaltation presented incalculable dangers. But it appears that the triumphs of skill over force has great charms for these children of nature; for, when I went to the Drayhy to deplore the state of fever in which this novel revolution held us, he only laughed, and assured me it was one of the greatest amusements of the Bedouins. While we were talking, a camel of the largest size made straight towards us, with his head erect, and kicking up the dust with his great feet. The Drayhy, seizing one of the stakes of his tent, waited for the furious animal, and struck him a violent blow on the head. The weapon broke, and the camel turned away to exercise his ravages elsewhere. A dispute then arose as to which was the strongest, the camel or the sheik. The latter averred, that if his club had resisted, he should have cleft the skull of his adversary; the attendants maintained the superiority of the animal, who had broken the obstacle opposed to him; and my decision, that their strength was equal, because it was a drawn battle, excited the mirth of the whole audience. The next day we broke up our camp, and were overtaken on the road by a messenger from Saker, who sent us an account of the ill-success of his negotiation with Bargiass. Our enemy Absi, who was high in favour with the latter chief, had exasperated him against us; had persuaded him to join Mehanna, and then to form an alliance with the Wahabees, who were to send an army for our destruction. The Drayhy answered, that this was no cause for uneasiness--that God was stronger than they were, and could with ease give the victory to the good cause. After this incident we continued our journey.