merely intended to act as a sort of porch to the
house and to screen its interior from the view of
passers-by in the road when the outer door happened
to be open, ran parallel with the street itself, and
the doors in it were so placed as to make it impossible
for anyone outside to see into the house.
The courtyard measured perhaps twenty-five feet
square. It was surrounded on all sides by rough
mud-built walls about ten feet high. These, except
for the door by which we had entered and a corresponding
door in the opposite wall leading to the
inner apartments, were quite blank. A date palm
growing in the centre of the court was utilised as
one of the props of a sort of verandah, thatched with
palm leaves, which covered about half the courtyard.
In the uncovered part a table had been placed,
and the sheyJch’s most valued possessions—three
very rickety chairs—were placed around it to serve
as seats for two of the leading Arabs of the oasis
and myself. The sheykh himself sat upon a wooden
box at the head of the table.
After I had been introduced to the other two
guests, and we had kissed hands after the approved
fashion, we all took our seats at the festive board.
I sat down very gingerly, and soon found that to
maintain my balance would require the exercise of
considerable acrobatic powers. The off fore leg of
my chair had been badly broken and had been but
indifferently spliced together with string. The two
hind legs were in a very ‘ groggy ’ condition, and the
back threatened every minute to fall off. The only
part of the chair upon which I could place any
reliance—and that creaked in the most ominous
manner—was the near fore leg. I was consequently
obliged to seat myself upon the extreme front corner
of the chair and to balance myself as best I could.
The conversation turned mainly upon my journey
from Biskra, the state of the Anglo-French relations—
this required some careful handling—the unusual
rain of the afternoon, the raid which the
Trood Arabs of El Wad had just made upon the
Tawareks of the neighbourhood of Ghadames, and
the price of camels and palm-trees in England.
The sheykh spoke French of sorts, and the conversation
was carried on between us in that language,
he translating my remarks to the other guests, who,
beyond an occasional question, took but little part
in the conversation, confining themselves to deep
guttural ‘ Ah wahs ! ’ and similar exclamations of
amazement at the account which I gave them of the
wonders of England and European civilisation.
After spending some little time in improving
conversation of this description a nigger came in
and spread a very greasy and dirty red cloth over
the table. A second servant followed with another
and much greasier cloth, which he laid upon the
centre of the first to prevent it from contact with
the dinner. A third nigger followed with a huge
pile of couscous heaped upon a high dish shaped
much like a dumb waiter, and covered with a
conical cover of plaited halfa grass.
Two mugs and three large horn spoons, or rather
ladles, were provided among the four of us. I immediately
seized one of the mugs and the nearest spoon