“a gEBAA.” 61 
gun ready for service ; another was in the rear, in the 
same position. I inquired of the owner of the mule the 
cause of these unusual precautions. He answered me, 
that they were dreading an attack from a “ sebad,” and 
that if this should occur, one of us would be carried off 
without having time to put himself on the defensive. “I 
would rather be a spectator,” I said to him, “than an 
actor in the scene you describe; consequently, I will 
give you two piastres more if you will keep your mule 
always in the centre of the moving group.” My pro- 
posal was accepted. It was then for the first time that 
I saw that my Arab carried a yatagan under his tunic, 
which he used for pricking on the mule the whole time 
that we were in the thicket. Superfluous cautions! The 
“ sebda” did not show himself. 
Each village being a little republic, whose territory we 
could not cross without obtaining permission and a pass- 
port from the Mahomedan priest président, the priest 
who conducted our caravan used to leave us in the fields, 
and went sometimes a good way off to a village to solicit 
the permission without which it would have been danger- 
ous to continue our route. He remained entire hours 
without returning to us, and we then had occasion to 
reflect sadly on the imprudence of our enterprise. We 
generally slept amongst habitations. Once, we found the 
streets of a village barricaded, because they were fearing 
an attack from a neighbouring village. The foremost 
man of our caravan removed the obstacles; but a woman 
came out of her house like a fury, and belaboured us with 
blows from a pole. We remarked that she was fair, of 
brilliant whiteness, and very pretty. 
Another time we lay down in a lurking-place dignified 
by the beautiful name of caravansary. In the morning, 
