ground, a result which sent the other two Arabs into
fits of laughter, and so to some extent restored their
temper.
Aissa was suffering from a mysterious complaint
which he described as ‘ fire in the throat.’ It was
probably some form of indigestion, for he had overeaten
his gluttonous self disgracefully the evening
before. The remedy which he wished to take in
order to effect a cure was a hoopoe’s liver !
He saw one of these birds perched upon a small
bush. He immediately borrowed my gun and
proceeded very deliberately and carefully to stalk it.
He succeeded in getting to within about ten yards
of it. He then slowly raised the gun from behind a
bush, aimed carefully for about half a minute, and
fired. The gun happened to be loaded with a buckshot
cartridge, so that it was perhaps hardly
surprising that when the smoke had cleared away
the bird was nowhere to be seen. Aissa spent the
next ten minutes in searching, without success, the
neighbourhood for the portion of its anatomy which
he required.
On our second day from N’goussa we met an
Arab riding on a mehari (trotting camel) across
country from the direction of El Wad. From the
confident way in which he rode it was clear that he
was very much at home in the desert. He was, in
fact, a Shaambah. As I noticed that he was carrying
attached to his saddle a very good specimen of a
Tawarek sword, I told Aissa to sing out to him, as
I wished to buy it.
He rode up at a long bouncing trot, scattering
the gravel in all directions as he came. On reaching
us he pulled up short, and without making his camel
kneel down, flung his leg jauntily over the front
pummel and dropped lightly to the ground.
I asked him where he had got the sword. He
laughed, showing a row of dazzlingly white teeth,
tossed his head, swung his leg, and generally put on
an appalling amount of swagger.
‘ Oh! ’ he said carelessly, * I was coming back
alone some time ago from Insalah when I met a
Tawarek by himself in the desert. I saw he had a
good gun, and I wanted it, as mine was an old one,
so I shot him ! ’
He looked frankly round at us and laughed again
pleasantly. He saw nothing unusual in this act of
brigandage.
I asked him what he wanted for the sword. He
unhooked it from the saddle and handed it to me
carelessly.
f Oh! I ’ll give it to you,’ he said. ‘ I don’t want
it, I ’ve got the gun.’ This being the Arab manner
of saying that he was not going to be bothered to
haggle about the price.
I gave him what I considered to be a fair sum
for it. He took the money without demur, and
put it into a jibeerah (red leather bag) which was
slung round his neck, merely remarking casually to
Aissa as he did so that he had refused two francs
more for it the day before. On hearing this I handed
him a few cartridges in addition to the money.
In return he unslung a gurbah (water-skin)
which was hanging from his saddle, and laid it on