travels from Timbuctoo to Tafilelt, feeding his heirie but once, at an oasis in the desert, for these camels, on an emergency, w ill abstain from drinking and from food seven days or more. A journ e y o f thirty-five days caravan travelling will be performed b y a Sebayee in five days; they go from Timbuctoo to Tafilelt in seven days. One o f these animals once came from Fort St. Joseph, on the Senegal river, to the house o f Messrs. Cabane and Depras, French merchants at Mogodor, in seven days. In the great desert o f Africa, where cultivation is so rare that one ma y travel several days on an ordinary camel with baggage, without seeing any habitation, the use o f the heirie must be evident, for it is more abstemious, and bears a longer continuation o f fatigue, than the (Sh’rubah Er’reeb) desert horse, hereafter described. T he self-exiled Muley Abdrahaman, a prince o f undaunted courage and great.penetration, son o f the old Emperor, Seedy Mohammed bn Abdallah bn Ismael, of the Tafilelt dynasty) whilst residing among the Arab clan o f Howara in Suse, kept, night and day, at the door o f his (keyma) tent, two heiries, ready caparisoned, one having a load o f gold dust and jewels, and the other for riding, in case o f a sudden surprise, that he might pass into the desert out o f the reach o f his father’s power. T he Emperor’s soldiers, by their master’s order, having treated his highness’s woman in a manner disgraceful to a Mooselmin, he ad retired to the confines o f Sahara for more security. T h e swiftness o f the heirie is thus described b y the Arabs in their figurative s tyle : “ When thou shalt meet a heirie, and say to the rider, Salem A lick , ere he shall ha ve answered thee, E l Heirie, or Erragual. 93 A lick Salem, he will be afar oif, arid nearly out o f sight, for his swiftness is like the wind.* ’ Talking with an Arab o f Suse, on the subject o f these fleet camels, and the desert horse, he assured me that he knew a young man who was passionately fond o f a lo v e ly young girl, whom nothing would satisfy but some oranges : these were not to be procured at Mogodor, and as the lad y wanted the best fruit, nothing less than Marocco oranges would satisfy h e r ; the Arab mounted his heirie at the dawn o f day, went to Marocco,-p purchased the oranges; and returned that night after the gates were shut, and sent the oranges to the lady b y a guard o f one o f the batteries. l am aware, in relating this circumstance, that I shall incur the imputation o f c r e d u lity ; but Mr. Bruce, who related many things v e ry common in Africa,' was lampooned by Munchausen; much, however, o f what was doubted, has been confirmed b y other travellers after him, and I am persuaded that in a short time much more w ill be ascertained to be fact, which he has, b y the ignorant and presuming, been censured for relating. J I f transactions and facts well known b y the A fr ican be incompatible with the European’s ideas o f probability, and, on that account rejected as fables, it' is not the fault o f the former, but o f the latter, who has neglected to investigate a neighbouring quarter o f the globe. The Sh'rubah Er'reek,§ or Desert horse, is to the common * Incredible stories are told of them, as that they will hold out for twenty-four hours together, travelling constantly at the rate of ten miles an hour. See Brown’s Travels in Africa, &c. Vol. II. p. 259. Marocco is about one hundred miles from Mogodor. J On this subject M. de Fiona! aptly observes, that “ le plus part des hommes t( mesurant leur foi par leur connoissance acquise, croyent k fort peu de choses.” § This term literally signifies Wind-sucker; the animal is so called from his
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