other sides, sand, drifted by the winds, lies in heaps, even at the foot of the houses. At Insalah, Cheggueun rejoined one of his wives. She was a young girl, of mixed blood, gilded like the sun, and shaped exquisitely; her eyes were black as the night, without moon and without stars. Whilst her husband was absent she lived with her father.

Another caravan was here awaited-that of Amedry. It would bring a reinforcement of one hundred and fifty men, and six hundred camels. On its arrival, the merchants of all the united caravans begged Cheggueun to put himself at their head.

"Oh, my children," replied Cheggueun, "I will willingly be your Khrebir, and, please God, will lead you in a good road, where neither you nor your camels will hunger nor thirst. I will take care of you. I will take you, too, safely through the country of the Touareug; but you know that they are unjust, proud, and strong, and you must flatter them. Do not forget the proverb:

If one whom you want to serve you, be mounted on an ass, cry out: 'What a splendid horse that is of yours, my lord!' They are greedy, they are wicked; you must buy them; these expenses are your affair. But listen to me: when I say, by a wink of my eye, 'give'-prepare a

present; when I say, 'watch'-open your eyes and your ears. Return to your camp, finish your preparations, and return in two days; on the third we shall set out."

The caravan progressed through the sands as far as the chain of Djebel-Mouydir, a succession of sandy and stony hills of no great elevation, intersected by ravines and little plains, most of them watered by sources. This chain extends to the mountains of Foucas on the east; and on the south to the mountains of Hoggar, the country of the Touareug.

The Touareugs, commonly called the veiled, have been from time immemorial thickly scattered over the inhabited country, from Sahara in the north to the Niger in the south, and from the ocean sand on the west to Abyssinie in the east. They shave their faces and moustachios, and wear their hair so long that they are often obliged to bind it up in tresses. A long chechia, whence depends a veil of black silk that falls over their faces,-for they say such a people as we should not show themselvescovers their head. Their arms are a long lance, an iron bar, javelins of six or seven feet long, the points of which are stuck over with crooked nails, which they carry in bundles before their mahari

(thorough-bred camels), a round shield attached to the left arm by leathern belts, and a poignard that never leaves them night or day, kept in a sheath in front of the left arm, and so attached by a cord that its handle is always at hand. A few of the chiefs alone have guns. All these arms are formidable; but the best of all is the sabre, the sweeping sabre.

"Balls and the fusil often deceive

"The lance is the sister of the Cavalier, but she may play him false.

"The buckler is around him who is beset with dangers.

"But the sabre! the sabre, when the heart is as strong as the arm, is the weapon of the Targui."

Thanks to the Cheggueun, who had also in this region a wife and children, the caravan passed the defiles, camel after camel, in a lengthened chain safely. Protected by Ould-Biska, the chief of this valiant tribe of pillagers, they traversed also the whole country of Touareug without molestation, admiring the beauty of its limpid waters, and the sheep without fleeces, and with tails draggling on the ground, but trembling all the while at the terrible stories they heard about the Touareug. One of these, the story of Ould

Biska himself, will furnish a good specimen of the wild manners of this tribe:

Kreddache who, before Ould-Biska, was the chief of the Touareug, was killed in battle by BenMansour of the tribe of the Chambas. When this was known, there was a great mourning in Djebel-Hoggar, and every noble pronounced this oath: "May my tent be destroyed if Kreddache be not avenged." Now Kreddache left behind him a wife, stately, and beautiful, and valiant of heart. Often had Fetoum followed the cheik in his razzias, animating the combatants by voice and gesture, and enduring like a man fatigue and thirst. According to law she had the right to command till her son should become of age; but any one whom she might marry would have joint power with her; and all sought her hand. One day, when a council was held, she said "Hear me, my brothers, he who brings me the head of BenMansour shall have me for his wife." And on that very evening when all the youth of the mountain, fully armed, saluted her before their departure, saying "To-morrow we start to fetch you your wedding present," she added "and I will accompany you."

Ould-Biska commanded the troop. For long

days and long nights they marched towards the north, where the Chambas had retreated. They arrived at ten o'clock at night, at the place of encampment, and hid themselves in the ravine from sunset to sunrise.

The night following they resumed their march along the plain; the long trail of these Maharis was hastening them quickly forward, when at midnight, they heard before them the barking of dogs; and a moment afterwards, by the light of the stars, fifteen or twenty tents appeared at the foot of a hill.

"That is the Dona of Ben-Mansour," said the guide to the chief. Ould-Biska then uttered the signal cry, and all Touareugs, taking up the fearful shriek, rushed upon the tents.

The sabre drank blood for a whole hour. Of all the Chambas, five or six only escaped, one of the fugitives being pinned to the earth by the lance of Ould-Biska.

On the morning of the next day Fetoum had all the torn and tumbling tents ransacked. Under each were many corpses: old men, women, and children, in all sixty six were counted. By some special care of Providence, a poor child of from eight to ten years old had not been