The same day, a young Moor invited me to accompany him into the woods, where I was to meet a number of other young men from the same camp. When we came to a very thick part of the wood, he sat down, and a moment after a slave brought a sheep; he then picked up wood, and lighted a fire, after having made a hole in the ground, in the form of an oven; a marabout then killed the sheep,[24] and the slave skinned it. The marabouts took the intestines, which they emptied by squeezing them between their fingers; and then, without washing, they made puddings with them; these were put over the fire, and eaten when they were half cooked. When there was a large quantity of embers, they were removed from the hole, and the sheep put in their place; embers and ashes were then spread over it, and fire kindled above. In half an hour’s time, my companions considered that the sheep was sufficiently dressed; they took it out of the hole, gave the head and a scrap of the neck to the slave, and divided the rest into as many portions as there were persons present; lots were cast after this to determine to whom each share should belong. Feasts of this kind are much in vogue with the Moors; five or six young men join, and furnish each a sheep in their turn, which they eat in the woods, that they may not be beset as they would be in the camp. When they have had as much as they can eat, they carry the rest to their relations; but there is never much left for this purpose, and sometimes none at all. Of the skins of their sheep and goats they make leather bags, and use them to keep and carry water in; for that purpose, they slit the skin of the animal from the knee nearly to the shoulders, loosen it with their hands and turn it back, and then take out the flesh through the opening. On the 6th of November, the camp broke up; we then marched three miles W. ¼ N.W. along the bank of a stream, where pasturage was abundant. Part of the camp remained behind, and rejoined us on the 8th. I was informed by a marabout that Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar was then on the road to his camp. The ground in the vicinity of el-Hadjar is rich, and covered with fine vegetation. The periodical inundation of the river deposits a slime which improves the soil, and it is also enriched by the numerous flocks and herds which are attracted by the pasturage. This virgin soil wants nothing but the hand of the husbandman to produce in abundance all the plants which it might be desirable to cultivate; but it would be in vain to suggest such a thing to the Moors, and the distance from the coast will never admit of a European establishment. Half a league from the banks of this stream, the nature of the soil changes, and it becomes ferruginous; vegetation is to be found only on little patches of very hard yellow sand, where the rain brings forth a few species of grass.