and, in fear of the enemy, to march only in the night, guided by the stars, across the sea of hillocks they had to traverse. Overcome by fatigue, they gave way to sleep, and the next day they lost their way. Without losing courage, however, the Rhomsi continued for a long time urging on their exhausted horses to advance. Finally, the little troop stopped, and whilst they were deliberating what was to be done, a horseman was seen in the distance agitating his burnous. "It is my opinion," said the oldest of the Rhomsi, "that we should show our arms, and then march in the direction of the Douar. If they are OuledRhelif* there is no hope for us, for they have seen us; if they are Hararst they will not have far to come to meet us, and will give us a good reception;" and the Rhomsi accordingly marched on. But prudence required that they should prepare for combat. And as the horse of one of them was better than the others, "Here, my Lord," said Rhaled to the old man, his father, "mount this horse, he is not yet quite knocked up, and let it not be said that a Rhomsi was killed on foot like a shepherd." The horsemen were,

* A tribe of the Highlands.

† Another tribe, as powerful as the former.

happily, their friends, the people of one of the Caids of the Harars, Mohamed Legras, and were coming to meet their guests.

You may judge by this trait of the pride of the Rhomsi, which is shown especially in their hospitality. One day when I was seated in one of their tents, "See you," said one of them, "never did guest put foot in the tent of a Rhomsi, that was not well fed, he and his horse, the next day, the day after, and for a whole week."

In the month of March, 1847, the squadrons of the 4th chasseurs, to which corps I belonged, were stationed, as a corps of observation, in the neighbourhood of the Rhomsi. It was a time, however, of profound peace, and whenever we were off duty, our days were spent in sporting. Rhaled often accompanied us, and one evening as we were returning home, he told us he had just received news from one of his Harar friends, whose Douars were only a few leagues off. "Mohamed," added he, "has the finest greyhounds and the best falcons of the whole tribe; and if we like to pay him a visit, he is sure to ask us to accompany him to the great falcon match that is to take place two days hence." This offer was too tempting to be rejected, so having obtained leave

of absence from the captain, we accepted it without hesitation, and on the next day at day-break were on our road to the Douar.

The Taleb (learned) call that indistinct moment which just precedes the break of day, when the night is not night, and the day is not day, Seheur. At the season of the Rhamadan, whilst a black thread can be distinguished from a white one, the most rigorous abstinence is enjoined on every good Musselman. Now the Seheur is the vanishing precursor of this point of time, and is more easily perceived in a country of vast horizons than any others; hence, according to the taleb, the name of Sahara has been given to that region of high lands which adjoins the Tell, the etymology of which word is not therefore the Latin word tellus, but the Arabic word tali (the last), because the scheur is seen in the Tell later than any where else. But, whatever may be thought of these etymologies, the Tell is for us the land of grain, and the Sahara that of pasturage and flocks; or, as Mohamed Legras said to me one day: "The Tell is our father, and she whom he has married is our mother;" or again, according to the saying of the wandering tribes, "We can neither be Musselmen, nor Jews,

nor Christians; we are the friends of our belly."

The first plateaux of the Sahara are a succession of hillocks of nearly equal height, and of an immense extent. They are like billows of the sea, tossed up and stationed immovably on this wide table-land. Between each of the hillocks spring sources of water, which, rippling along the pastures, produce the short thick grass that nourishes flocks of sheep, and gives them that fine wool and delicacy of flavour for which they are renowned. Further on beyond the first horizon of mountains, about twenty leagues from the mountains of Tell, the real Sahara commences. There the traveller, it is said, has spread before him vast places void and naked, arid mountains, oases of palm trees, other far-between spaces where in spring and in winter pasturage may be found, and at last, far far away, that mysterious country, the sand-ocean.

These high plateaux are inhabited by wandering and warring tribes, who every year, when they have laid in their provisions of grain in the Tell, emigrate with thousands of camels and all their property into the southern tracts. But the spring was now coming on, the Harars were

beginning to appear, and it was with one of this tribe, that we were now about to indulge in the pleasures of falconry.

The whole party was ready on our arrival. The horsemen were mounting their mares, those fleet animals, so much esteemed by good Musselmen-for, say the Ulémas, when God created the mare he said to the wind, "There shall spring from thee a creature that shall carry all my worshippers, shall be cherished by all my slaves, and strike with despair all who obey not my laws;" and when the mare was created he exclaimed, "I have made thee without an equal; the good things of this world shall be placed between thine eyes; thou shalt ruin mine enemies everywhere I will make thee happy and preferred above other animals; for I will put tenderness towards the in the heart of thy master. Good for the pursuit, good for the retreat, thou shalt fly without wings, and on thy back will I place only those who know me, men who pray, and give thanks, and adore me."

I observed that the right hand of the chiefs was covered by a glove called smègue, which had no fingers, and was sometimes made of tiger or panther skin. Here the falcon perched; but there