hot, they came to blows. Although it is many generations since this occurred, it is impossible, at the present day, to utter the word "Tamissa" to an At'faoui, or descendant of those who voted for Takhessaït, or vice versa, without being considered guilty of a marked insult.

It is said that the M'zab are all banded together in a secret society. I have met many Arab masons, both in Algeria and Tunis, among the chiefs of high degree; at least there are several of their signs which correspond with those of European masonry, though the attached traditions are very different. But though I frequently made the attempt, I never discovered any kadi among the M'zab who was able to recognise or respond to true masonic signs.

I dared not have incurred the risk of wearying my readers with so prolix and detailed an account of the M'zab, did I not feel convinced that we have too generally been in the habit of classing all the tribes of Northern Africa as very nearly allied, and that we seem to have in this people a race which stands out distinct from all others in religion, in habits, in political constitution, and in physiognomy; and therefore well merits more accurate investigation than has ever yet been accorded to it.

P

Stony desert Wed N'ça

New plants-Caution in camping - Story of a midnight attack - Asleep on guard - Threatening clouds - El Guentra — Landmarks - A homesick boy - Hardships of cameldrivers-Wed M'zab A night alarm-Preparations for an encounter - Friends after all - A friendly chat - First sight of Waregla Rumours of war - Descent to the oasis- A saint's revenge-Halt at the gate Sidi Zobeir-An Arab aristocrat - A feast- Public toilet Ride through the city - Ruined palaceA costly Sultan - History of Waregla-Jews-Old coins Gardens Attempt at colonization Geological speculations.

FROM Guerrara our faces were set steadily southward, and we were well equipped for a forced march of three days. The plain, for some time after we mounted from the Wed Seder, was covered with rolling sand-drifts of fine and almost impalpable powder, driven and ripplemarked by the wind, in which our horses sank at each step to their knees. The only plant I could discover was a garlic, new to me, with a leaf about two feet long, and scarcely the tenth of an inch in width, and a root with a flavour stronger than ever was breathed from the mouth of a Tuscan peasant.

Soon we rose upon a stony plateau, of different geological character from the country of the M'zab, composed of secondary limestone, but covered with rough masses of conglomerate, and innumerable sharp pebbles of silex, of every hue, apparently disintegrated from their matrix, which the winds that sweep this elevated tract had carried entirely away, and deposited in the lower ground through which we had just so painfully waded. Only here and there was the surface dotted by dwarfed and colourless desert shrubs, about six inches high. Not sorry were we just after nightfall to reach our appointed bivouac-the bed of the Wed N'ça, marked in the gloom by our gradual descent among clumps of a dwarf tamarisk new to me (Tam. Buonapartii, Cosson), and other shrubs, which afforded us abundant fuel. We were compelled to exercise much caution in the selection of a campingground, for we were now in the country of lawless and predatory tribes; and while the camp should be so pitched in a hollow that the watch-fires should be concealed, it was necessary to avoid the contiguity of trees or bushes, which might harbour prowling marauders in the moonlight. We were fortunate enough to find a piece of level ground, sheltered by a ridge two or three feet high to windward.

Few persons who have not made the experiment of camping can conceive how important it is to have a little low shelter close to the tent. While a high wall, twenty feet off, affords but little protection, and a hill still less, the bitterest blasts may be warded off by a turf raised near the tent, or by a very low bank a foot high, under the lee of which you may wrap yourself in your cloak. While the tent was being pitched I had just time to gather a few plants, subsequent examination of which, showing

them to be new species, proved how much might have been done, could we have delayed for a day or two on such a field. But we were in a dangerous country, and had been repeatedly warned of the necessity for rapid locomotion, and for keeping a good watch all night.

As I was sitting in my turn over the embers, one of the sehaurs, my companion, recounted how in this valley last year, with a caravan of camels and eight drivers, they determined to keep a watch, two and two by turns. They kept it up till past midnight, when a band of marauders, who unseen had been hovering in their neighbourhood, came upon them. Of course the whole party, sentinels included, were buried in slumber. Bang, bang, bang, sounded their réveille; they started to their feet, returned the fire, and the robbers fled; but not before two victims had been stretched dead by the first discharge, and a third, mortally wounded, expired by the embers an hour afterwards.

We of course took every precaution; firearms were all examined and laid ready, and our own revolvers by our pillows. The baggage was all piled in front of the tent, with the servants' tent on the other side the watch-fire. The mekhasni, who were well aware of the danger, were adjured, under penalty of fame, character, and fortune, if sleep they must, to sleep with both eyes open, and a patrol was arranged on the brow beyond us. P. had retired early, while I had remained to watch the watchers. midnight, the moon just beginning to rise and dispel the blackness of night, I followed him within our tent. About an hour afterwards P. turned out for duty. Our trusty retinue, camels, and baggage, all lay calm and silent beneath the bright moon. The prostrate

At

sehaurs snored on the ground, the domestics and armed retainers took up the refrain from within their curtain, and the sentry, squatted on the baggage, nodded with his piece prostrate before him. So much for Arab vigilance when danger is abroad.

The sun had set with a strange lurid glare, followed by a vivid green hue along the western horizon. We never had seen such colouring before, and accordingly when we rose at half-past 4 A.M., thankful for the watchful Providence which had guarded us, the moon was hidden, the sky overcast, and soon a torrent of rain-a portent indeed in the desert-betokened a pleasant time for our ride of fourteen hours before we could reach the bed of the Wed M'zab, our next night's halting-place. But as soon as the sun rose the day promised better. In fact, water would be wasted on so sterile a desert; so the clouds, enlightened by Phoebus, discovered their mistake, packed up and removed to a happier clime. We had already sent on the camels, and stood shivering in cloaks by the hot ashes, silent and puffing till the red gray dawn bid us be in the stirrup.

For a couple of hours we crossed and recrossed the Wed N'ça, provoked at having to leave many a plant and bird probably as yet unknown to the naturalist; but the necessity for pressing on was imperative. From hence we mounted into the plateau of El Guentra, recalling the description of the Steppes of Tartary, covered with half-macadamized sharp stones, and here and there a minute white or brown leafless shrub struggling for existence. No bird, no other sign of life, relieved the weary monotony, while a strong and bitter wind saturated the air with impalpable sand, till every pore of the body was gritty and irritated, and the sharp