224 



THE LION KILLER. 



a road for us with sticks and stones among the crowd of 

 brutes that disputed our entrance, and we dismounted in 

 front of the tent of Bon Aziz, who did us the honors of the 

 place with all the grace of a king. 



Every man, woman and child in the douar came forward 

 to examine me, and they expressed their different opinions 

 with all the frankness that they would have done had I been 

 a hundred leagues away. 



When the supper hour arrived the women and children 

 disappeared and the men of the tent, together with the invited 

 guests, squatted themselves in two circles. A man then 

 brought and placed in the centre of the circle where I was 

 sitting, an iron vase filled with water, into which each of the 

 guests, without hesitation stuck his hands, more or less dirty, 

 and then the vase was carried to the second group, that did 

 the same. This was the preparatory ablution, and it is safe 

 to say that it was needed. 



In a few minutes after we heard a great racket in that part 

 of the tent that belongs to the women, and a man was seen 

 coming in carrying a dish on his head, and preceded, followed 

 and surrounded by a crowd of dogs of a shaggy coat and 

 ugly countenance, that were pushing, scrambling, biting, and 

 fighting each other up to the very guests that sat in the circle. 

 The men in attendance tried their best to keep them back, 

 but without success, until they threatened to take the supper 

 by assault from the head of the waiter who was bringing 

 it. 



With us we hardly ever punish a dog even with a whip ; 

 here, on the contrary, I have seen them struck often with the 



