The remainder of the mutton made a plentiful supper; they gave me a good portion of couscous of barley-meal, adding a small piece of the belly of the sheep which had been reserved. Though this couscous was detestable, both for its want of seasoning and for the great quantity of fat with which it was made, I ate of it with appetite. On the 30th of June, the women were early at work grinding wheat for the breakfast of the priests. The means by which they obtain the flour separated from the bran is as follows: they have two round flat granite stones, placed one upon another, and set into one another by means of a piece of wood fixed to the centre of the lower stone; the upper has an opening through which the grain is introduced; it is then turned with a handle. Two women are employed in working this machine, although it is neither heavy nor difficult to move. When the wheat had been thoroughly sifted several times through a sieve of thin canvas, the two daughters of Sidi-Aly, as dirty as their father, proceeded to knead it into a cake without yeast: one of them made a great fire of tamarisk wood, to heat the ground on the spot chosen for baking the cake: when it was considered sufficiently hot, they swept the place and laid the dough upon the earth; the embers were then replaced upon it and covered with loose sand which had been heated for the purpose: when half-baked it was washed, broken in pieces, and thrown into a calabash, full of fat, the remains of the preceding night’s supper; a kind of sauce was now poured over it and a piece of a sheep recently killed was added. All the family and the priests partook of this stew, and when they had eaten sufficiently they brought me a small portion which remained, with a little sauce upon it; this formed both my breakfast and dinner. On the succeeding days they gave me nothing but dates; I represented to Sidi-Aly that they disagreed with me, owing to the complaint in my teeth, which prevented my chewing them without experiencing severe pain. Aly answered that he was sorry for it, but he had no meat to give me; that in this country dates only were eaten during the day and couscous at night: the remainder of the rice which had been given me at el-Arawan, was put into his tent, and the family ate of it without ever offering me any. At length, having no remedy, it was necessary to conform to this mode of living upon dates alone: but how much did I suffer! I had soon a sore on the roof of my mouth, and fearing lest I should be again reduced to the dreadful state in which I had formerly been, I gave up eating these fruits, and determined to beg a little camel’s milk from our neighbours, whom I found but little affected by my petition. Aly had several daughters whose young lovers were frequently coming to his tent; sangleh was often dressed for their breakfast, but they never once offered me any, though they knew that it gave me such excruciating pain to eat the dates.