1896.] j^35 



An English Entomologist arrested in Algeria. — At noon, on tlie 22nd ins( ., 

 on the outskirts of the Foret de el Houbeira, a party of Arab harvest-men 

 ou their way to reap corn, came plump upon a European eating lunch under a 

 cork-tree at the edge of a swamp. Dressed like a dirty tramp, without a collar, 

 and wearing a hat that had once seen better days, appearances were very much 

 to his disfavour ; so without more ado they sat down in the shade to take 

 stock of him and his gear. Six feet of " sugar cane " (bamboo) with brass fittings, 

 a sun-umbrella, square straw basket, muslin nets not strong enough for fish, 

 bottles full of dragon-flies, and Neuroptera among bits of tissue paper, a walking 

 stick and pocket compass ; no resources, and no paper of identification — clearly 

 a suspicious character, or wandering lunatic, who ought to be taken to their 

 Sheikh. But the question was, " How to get him there ? " They had shared 

 his bread and butter (when assured that it was not lard), and so were debarred from 

 using force. At length after much conversation in Arabic, on their side (which he 

 did not understand), and French, on his part (of which they hardly knew a word)^ 

 one of them glancing at an empty bottle offered him a drink at the douar, while 

 others catching up various articles strolled off in that direction, making signs to 

 him to follow. His way to the Sheikh, however, lay in quite the opposite direction ; 

 and so for an hour or more amidst general merriment they had to make with him a 

 long detour through swamp and scrub, until (his exploration of the locality com- 

 pleted) he headed towards their huts. On nearing Aine Kriar, the Sheikh was shouted 

 for, and they settled down to reap. The Sheikh, coming up, seized basket, ymbrella, 

 and bamboo, and marched the prisoner to his shed. Then an Arab who could speak 

 a little French was sent for ; also a Marabout to write in Arabic a report of the 

 capture and copy it into a book. All this took time, for in the middle of copying, 

 the Marabout broke off to tell the Sheikh a long story about something else. Then 

 a messenger was fetched to carry the report to a village three miles off, to be rendered 

 into French for the Administrateur, who cannot read written Arabic, the prisoner's 

 offer to do all the writing not being accepted. He was, however, allowed to send a 

 note to the Inn to say he would not be back to dinner, having been informed that 

 he had to go under escort to La Calle, about twelve miles distant. The Sheikh's 

 intention was that pi-isoner and escort should share one horse between them. 

 Prisoner objected to the arrangement, and advised the Sheikh to be careful not to get 

 into trouble. So two horses were brought in from the pasture ; one was saddled for 

 the escort, and the other (fitted out with a queer sort of ring and bit in its mouth, 

 suspended, like a nose-bag, by a string behind the ears) had a bag of provender for 

 the night thrown loose across its back for the prisoner to sit upon, with his legs 

 dangling one on each side of the horse's neck. The beast was hog-maned, so there 

 was nothing to hold on by. Prisoner made a leg, was hoisted on to the sack, escort 

 called " Have courage," and a start was made for the lock-up at La Calle. Tiie sack 

 behaved pretty well over the few miles of rough track that led to the highway ; but 

 cargo would shift a bit in Jogging down hill and negotiating ditches, and prisoner 

 had to keep on changing his seat from the middle to either end, whichever happened 

 to come uppermost, escort on occasion dismounting to give a timely shove when 

 matters grew utterly desperate. Presently there came into view the Administrateur 

 and his orderly on their way to Le Tarf. The prisoner being ahead of his escort. 



