Our party when on march resembled a routed army, all confusion. The cattle went first, driven by a few men mounted on oxen; the mournful lowing of the animals, the shouts of the men, and the shrill voices of the women, resounded on all sides. Here a camel had disburdened himself of a woman, there a refractory bullock refused to proceed, a little farther a restive horse threatened to throw his rider, and was rearing and plunging amongst oxen and camels; women losing their balance in consequence, were rolling on the ground screaming; the hurly-burly was such, that there was no hearing one’s self speak. At last, after having proceeded three miles towards the north, we halted to pitch our tents, and the confusion subsided. The slaves unloaded the beasts and set up the tents, and as there was no water at this place, they went back for it to the lake of Guiguis which we had just left. Such of the slaves as took charge of the cattle employed themselves in cutting briars to make fences for the calves, and others went to seek fire-wood to light fires before the tents. This article is so rare in this country, that when the camp remains long in a place, the poor fellows are obliged to go a couple of miles in search of it. The Moors always burn fires before their tents; a custom which is inconvenient on many accounts: in the day time the heat of these fires is unpleasant, and a multitude of grasshoppers and other insects, with which the country abounds in this season, take refuge in the tents and prove a great nuisance. On the 10th of September, the king left us to carry a present to his brother Sidy Aibi, chief of a tribe of Braknas; he took my marabout along with him. At his departure he directed that I should lodge with his aunt Fatmé-Anted-Moctar, to whom he recommended me. I had not seen her before, but she treated me with great kindness, as did also two of her nieces who lived with her. They were considerate enough to send away all the curious who were incessantly besetting me. At noon, they gave me some sangleh, the first I had eaten since I arrived at the king’s camp. I was indebted no doubt to the protection of Hamet-Dou for the peace I enjoyed here; the women also were less annoying than I had found them in the districts I had lately traversed; their curiosity was sometimes vexatious, but I was no longer tormented as I had been elsewhere. The wind was high, and it raised a prodigious quantity of sand, which fell like rain on our heads, and incommoded us for half an hour, so that we could not stir out of doors. In the evening we had a shower of rain, and I could breathe more freely again. On the 12th, the king returned; and on the 15th, we made our arrangements for proceeding on our journey, for we had only stopped to give Hamet-Dou the opportunity of visiting his brother.