AN EXCURSION IN THE MAHOUNA COUNTRY. _ 2*71 



Seeing that I did not attend to their solicitations, they 

 hastened to bring me mats and cushions, and in a few 

 moments afterwards, a smoking repast was placed by the 

 side of the couch that was to serve me for the night, and as 

 the ogre, as the Arabs called their guest, would not arrive 

 before midnight, they did me the honor of their company 

 until the apprehension of his visit caused their retreat. This 

 was a sort of lion soiree, where every one brought his tale 

 more or less tragic, illustrating some of the misdeeds of the 

 lion. 



While waiting until our hero shall come upon the scene, I 

 will give my readers one of the stories that was told that 

 night, and that has remained in my brain while the many 

 are long since forgotten. The written tale will lack to the 

 reader the wild dress and gesture of the speaker, the curious 

 circle of listening figures, with the women in the background^ 

 the white tents of the douar, and the flood of moonlight that 

 bathed all in beauty, and lent a double interest to the young. 

 Arab's words. 



Thus ran the story : 



On the desert, when an Arab, the owner of a large tent, 

 marries a wife, he bids all the world to the wedding, and the 

 guests all go to the bride's tent to conduct her to her new 

 home. ■ The girl is carried in a palanquin, and the guests 

 march by her side, making the night gay with music, and a 

 general fusillade. 



But as all men do not herd the same number of cattle, so 

 all marriages are not alike. If one is honored by a great 

 cortege, and gay cavaliers, rich in trappings and well-earned 

 name, caracole by. the side of the future spouse; another 

 groom may not have the means even to pay the fiddler that 

 makes the music. 



Smail, a young warrior of our tribe, belonged to this latter 

 class, and his last crown had been spent to endow his bride. 



