Very early in the morning, when all was quiet, I was aroused from my sleep by the mournful song of an Arab, who, between the different stanzas of his dirge, seemed to give vent to his tears. The impression made by this song, which was full of deep feeling, among such a horde of lawless people, where generally only the meanest side of man was exhibited, was charming; but as the singer was at some distance from my tent, I could not distinctly make out what was the cause of his grief, neither was I able to learn it afterwards: the thoughts of the Arabs were taken up by another affair. The most handsome among the female slaves who composed part of the spoil that was to be taken to the vizier by his officer Háj ʿAbbás, had made her escape during the night; they were eagerly searching from dawn of day, but could not find her. At length they discovered her necklace and clothes, and the remains of her bones,—evident proofs that she had fallen a prey to the wild beasts. She belonged to the Yédiná or Búdduma, and was represented as having been possessed of considerable charms; and it was supposed that her loss would affect the vizier greatly, who, as I have before observed, was rather fond of an ethnological variety of female beauty. There was a great deal of unpleasant conversation about this affair, the girl not yet having been delivered up to Háj ʿAbbás when she made her escape. But there were many other causes of discord among this little horde, and when the vizier’s officer set out, a great many more of the Arabs made use of this opportunity to go to Kúkawa than had been agreed upon. The most serious loss to us was certainly the departure of Sheikh ʿOmár, Ghét’s uncle, who, on account of his experience and knowledge of the English, which much exceeded that of his youthful nephew, might have been of considerable service to us. At any rate he ought to have informed us of his intention to leave, as by his accepting our present, it was understood that he undertook the obligation of assisting us in carrying out our project; and having nothing to spare, we felt rather disappointed. But although our prospects were not too flattering, at least we had hopes of moving a little onwards, as our departure from this place was fixed for the following day. [Sidenote: Sunday, October 5th.]