On the 21st, we again proceeded towards N. N. E., at four in the morning, travelling three miles in about an hour, among the hills of loose sand. We then came to a plain of smooth sand firmer than that of the hills, covered with small gravel and pebbles. About ten, we halted at the wells of Chanérou, where we found some Berbers watering their sheep, the fleeces of which are remarkably white. Near these wells I observed a small shed, constructed of the branches of the _zizyphus lotus_, and covered with straw and brambles: here I took shelter in company with some Moors, and three Berber women, who left the task of questioning me to the men, paid apparently but little attention to my adventures, when cursorily related to them; but my person seemed to attract much of their notice, and to please them greatly. Now and then I asked them for some water; which they good-humouredly gave me from the bucket, carefully holding it in a position that enabled me to drink with ease. The plain, in which these wells are situated, is gravelly, interspersed with rocks, and inclosed by sterile hills, which seem to be about three hundred and fifty feet in height. A little grass grows in the clefts of these rocks, and serves the sheep for pasturage. We had been joined in the morning by a Moor from Tafilet, who came to meet his father. The old man, whose name was Sidi-Abdoul-Rahman, was about fifty-five or sixty years of age, and nearly bald: he was returning to his native village, Ghourland, after a long residence at Timbuctoo; where he had seen Major Laing, as he informed me by the way. His son brought him some black grapes for his refreshment; he gave me a bunch with a small bit of wheaten bread, which I accepted with pleasure. Little, indeed, had I expected to eat fresh bread and grapes in so sterile a country! In the evening, some troops of Berbers came to water their flocks. Sidi-Aly proposed to buy a sheep for our supper, the Berbers of another troop joined us, and twenty of them contributed towards this purchase; each gave for his share a _dragme_, the coin of the country, worth about eight French sous. Sidi-Aly whom I had allowed to see that I possessed three or four shillings, consented to lend me this dragme, which I promised to repay on our arrival at Tafilet. I must here anticipate by observing, as a fact which greatly surprised me, that at parting he would not accept payment; desiring that I would keep this piece of money to assist me on my journey to Fez, and saying that he gave it me for the love of God. It was doubtless from remorse of conscience which he wished to silence at a cheap rate. The mutton thus procured, and which was dressed like the last, proved delicious, though it had not been so carefully cleaned.