_17th._--To my great satisfaction the mail arrived this morning, bringing letters and newspapers. The Governor is very friendly and is in better health. Quarrelled with Ben Mousa, my taleb, for eating Said's dinner when I was out of the way; to-day Said got him reconciled to me. Haj Mansour's family consists of thirty-two persons, all living in one house. This is the great _quasi_ negro-merchant before mentioned. His father died a Saharan veteran of the age of one hundred and one. He had been more than a hundred times over The Desert trading. Yesterday died a man at the age of ninety-six. There are several women now living more than eighty. How long these poor creatures survive their feminine charms! A woman in The Desert gets old after thirty. I think, from what I have heard, people live to a great age in this and other oases--if not to a good and happy old age. Some remarkable cases of longevity in The Desert have been narrated by Captain Riley. Said says the people rob us desperately when they make our bread. We usually buy the wheat and have it ground and made into bread at the same time. I tell Said we must expect this sort of pilfering where there are so many hungry people. My taleb began his interminable discussions on religion. He said he had hoped that I should have recognized Mahomet as the prophet of God, being acquainted as I was with Arabic, the language of truth and unmatched by any language in the world[58]. I replied language was not enough, other things were necessary; besides, indeed, some of the Mussulman doctors had said the Koran could be imitated and even excelled. The taleb replied, "A lie! the doctors were heretics and infidels, it is impossible to imitate the Koran's beautiful language," citing the well-known words of Mahomet:-- "_Answer._--Bring therefore a chapter like unto it; and call whom you may to your assistance, besides God, if ye speak the truth."--(Surat ii., entitled "Jonas.") The taleb then turned to my turjeman, who was present, and cited another passage, thinking I did not understand what it was. The passage quoted was the famous anathema of judicial blindness denounced against infidels:-- "As to the unbelievers, it will be equal to them whether thou admonish them, or do not admonish them; they will not believe. God hath sealed up their hearts and their hearing; a dimness covereth their sight, and they shall suffer a grievous punishment."--(Surat ii., entitled "the Cow.") This is evidently an imitation[59] of our Scriptural passages, of which there are several: