We next learned that the tribe El Calfa was encamped at Zualma. The Drayhy considered it important to secure the co-operation of this powerful and courageous tribe. Its sheik, Giassem, was an old friend of the Drayhy; but he could neither read nor write, and it therefore became dangerous to address a letter to him, which would be read by a Turk, and might be essentially injurious to our affairs, as experience had taught us in the instance of the scribe Absi. Again, then, the negotiation was committed to me; and I was sent to him, with an escort of six men mounted on dromedaries. We arrived, after a journey of three days, at the spot indicated, and were greatly disconcerted to find that the tribe had removed their camp, leaving no trace of the road they had taken. We passed the night without eating or drinking, and deliberated the following day on what we were to do. The affair of most immediate necessity was to find water; for it is well known that thirst is more insupportable than hunger, and we might also reasonably expect at the same time to meet both with the springs and the tribe. We wandered three entire days without finding either water or food. My palate was so perfectly dry, that I could neither move my tongue nor articulate a sound; I had exhausted all the artificial means of mitigating thirst, as keeping pebbles and balls of lead in my mouth; my face was become black, and my strength was forsaking me, when suddenly my companions cried out, “Gioub el Ghamin!” (the name of a well in the desert,) and darted forward. These men, inured to fatigue, sustained privations in a manner inconceivable to me, and were far from imagining to what a deplorable condition I was reduced. On seeing them run from me, the irritation of my nerves, excited by fatigue, made me despair of reaching the well, where I fancied they would not leave a single drop of water for me; and I threw myself on the ground weeping. Seeing me thus overcome, they returned, and encouraged me to make an effort to follow them. We arrived at length at the well, and one of them leaning over the parapet, drew his sabre, declaring he would cut off the head of the first man who dared approach. “Be governed by my experience,” said he, “or you will all perish.” The authoritative tone he assumed had its effect upon us, and we all obeyed in silence. He called us one by one, beginning with me, and made us first lean over the margin of the well to inhale some of its moisture. Then drawing a small quantity of water, he wetted our lips with his fingers; by degrees he allowed us to drink a few drops, then a small cup full; and having pursued this rational treatment for three hours, he said, “You may now drink without risk; but if you had not listened to me, you would have been all dead men; for drinking without precaution, after long privation, is certain destruction.” We passed the night on this spot, drinking continually, as much for nourishment as to slake our thirst, which,