58o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



the camels we leave here, they are fhc-ones, and neceflkry to 

 give the women food. They are not lame, it is faid, but we 

 Ihall lame them in earneft, fo that they Ihall not be able to 

 carry a meflenger to the Bifliareen before they die with 

 thirfl in the way, both they and their riders, if they fliould 

 attempt it." 



An univerfal applaufe followed this fpeech ; Idris, above 

 all, declared his warmell approbation. The man and the 

 women were fent for, and had their fentence repeated to 

 them. Tlicy all fubfcribed to the conditions chearfullyj^ 

 and the woman declared flae would as foon fee her child 

 die as be an inllrument of any harm befalling us, and that, 

 if a thoufand Bifharcen fliould pafs, {he knew how to mif- 

 lead them all, and that none of them fhould follow us till 

 .we were far out of danger. 



IsEKT two Barbarins to lame the camels efTc^lually, bur 

 not fo as to make them pad recovery. After which, for tire 

 nurfe and the child's fake, I took twelve handfuls of the 

 bread which was our only food, and indeed we could 

 fcarcly fpare it, as we faw afterwards, and left it to this^ mi- 

 ferable family, with this agreeable reflecT:ion, however, tha.t 

 we fhould be to them in the end a much greater blefling 

 than in the beginning we had been an affliction, provided 

 cnly they kept their faith, and on their part deferved it. 



On the 20th, at eleven o'clock wc left the well at Terfowey, 

 after having warned the women, that their chance of feeing 

 their hufband again depended wholly upon his and their 

 faithful condud. We took our prifoncr with us, his right 

 liaaid being chained to the left of one of the Barbarins. We had 



no 



