One of the Tawareks, named Mastan, who was
taken after the combat at Hassi Inifel as a prisoner
to Algiers, fell ill, while confined there, of small-pox,
and was removed to the military hospital in the town,
where he was nursed by a nun named Sister Joseph,
who had also attended on a former occasion one of
his fellow-prisoners named Moumen.
When, after his recovery, Mastan was restored
to his fellows, he, together with Moumen, concocted
of his own initiative the grateful little epistle, shown
on the opposite page, to their nurse, whom they had
been accustomed to address by the name of * Fatma.’
It is inserted in facsimile1 as a specimen of Tawarek
writing.
Translated into English, it reads as follows : ‘ I,
Mastan, salute Eatma who tended me. May God
prosper thee! All we prisoners salute thee—thee
and thine. The good that thou hast done to me
thou hast done to us all, and we shall not forget it
when we get back to our own country.’
* I, Moumen, salute Fatma. May God prosper
thee ! I thank thee.’
General Hanoteau once succeeded in inducing
one of these men to accompany him as his guest to
Algiers. During his stay there the Tawarek seems
to have had to submit to a certain amount of
* lionising.’
For a time he put up with i t ; but soon he became
bored by the festivities that were thrust upon him.
He grew tired of being obliged to conform to the
1 Taken from Le Sahara Frangais, by Commandant H. Bissuel.