'A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 245 



European pattern, such as a Bohemian beetroot-sugar factory; 

 for it is a very plain neglected sort of building, with some 

 low chimneys, which only give it something of the look of a 

 factory. In it the produce of the numerous sugar-cane fields 

 is turned to account. 



We took a hasty breakfast in the very primitively arranged 

 waiting-room of the station, and then hurried to get our 

 caravan together. This is no easy business in the East ; for 

 every one offers the services of himself, his horse, or his 

 donkey in the most impetuous way. They all shout, gesti- 

 culate, and jostle each other till the unfortunate stranger is 

 perfectly deafened and throws himself into the arms of the 

 nearest. However, with the assistance of some gendarmes 

 and our trusty sticks, we soon managed to get this wild chaos 

 into order. 



The gentlemen and the attendants were all provided with 

 horses, and we also engaged some men to carry the dachs- 

 hunds, which are so necessary to the sportsman in this 

 country. On this occasion a regular pack had been got 

 together ; for Baron Saurma had brought ten, and we four of 

 these plucky pugnacious animals. 



With some difficulty the crowds of inquisitive gaping people 

 who had gathered round us were pushed back and prevented 

 from running after us. The Bedouin sportsmen, whom we 

 really needed, rode and walked in front, forming a little com- 

 pany, all clad in white, or rather in dirty yellow burnouses, 

 and armed with long guns and curved knives. At their waists 

 hung primitive tobacco-pouches and bags of powder and 

 hacked lead, their long lean legs being bare and their feet 

 thrust into red slippers. Here, as throughout Northern 

 Africa, they were wretchedly poor, wearing no colours or 

 pretty stuffs, not even turbans, but only the brown close-fitting 

 tarbooshes, the younger men being even quite bare-headed. 



These people are of an interesting type, for they are true 



