board another talisman, directing that the writing should be washed, and that her niece should drink of the water which had been used for this purpose. This formality having been punctually fulfilled, the girl came to ask me what time would elapse before the charm would operate. As I knew that I should not be many days in the country, I told her that it would probably not be twenty before she was married. Her aunt Ayesha (this was the old woman’s name) kept her word; she brought me on the morrow, in a very dirty calabash, some sangleh made of barley-meal and without seasoning. The daughters of Aly, having become more civil since I had shewn my talent for bestowing husbands, ceased to molest me; they came and offered me some fresh camel’s milk, and this was the first time that I had drunk any in the dwelling of my host. Meanwhile the good old aunt who had so strongly recommended secresy to me, gave her friends information of the happy talent which I possessed, and I soon had to write for the neighbouring camps. All the women of the environs made friends with me that, I might give them a charm which would procure husbands for their daughters; they even went so far as to offer me money in payment, which it will be easily imagined I was far from accepting; but I made no scruple of taking milk and sangleh for my support: profiting by this innocent stratagem, I had every day gruel or milk for breakfast. Before chance furnished me with this method of procuring food, I had given my host a little coussabe, entreating him to send me each morning, at least, a small quantity of sangleh: the old hypocrite kept my present, but gave me nothing in return. One day I reproached him for his conduct, and he returned me my coussabe: I changed it for a pair of morocco shoes, for I was barefoot; in the middle of the day, the sun was so scorching, and the gravel and dry herbage cut my feet so much, that I had been obliged to borrow shoes to walk in. The sons of Sidi-Aly, from twenty-eight to thirty years of age, not wanting my assistance to find wives, did not treat me more kindly than before; they continued to insult me up to the time of my departure; they even carried their insolence so far as to present themselves uncovered before me using the most indecent gestures. Aly, their father, only laughed at this conduct, which he witnessed. The Arabs of el-Harib are so harassed by the Beraberas, or Berbers, to whom they are tributary, that they are fearful of travelling even in their own country without an escort from among these people; for if these unfortunate Arabs were met by the Berbers, they would be beaten and pillaged: for this reason we could not proceed to Tafilet without an escort. We were therefore obliged to wait for one of the chiefs of this nation, who lived in a village of the Drah or Draha, and had been sent for.