THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 179 



how to fire. The officer asked me to try a shot, and 

 I hit the bull's-eye. The Viceroy then sent for his 

 own carbine, one of German make, and with that too 

 I hit the mark ; but I declined to go on again, so as 

 not to endanger my reputation of being a good shot. 

 After breakfast we form a circle round the tent, and 

 the Sheik Masri, who had shown much devotion to 

 the Viceroy when he was persecuted by Abbas Pasha, 

 and whom he had subsequently attached to his house- 

 hold, related to us the war which had occurred six 

 months before, between a tribe from Upper Egypt and 

 that of the Ouled-Ali, to which he belonged. The 

 Ouled-Ali tribe encamps in the deserts which extend 

 from Lake Mareotis to the seashore as far as the 

 frontiers of Tripoli, cultivating the land bounded by 

 the last of the canals which separate the desert from 

 the provinces of Lower Egypt. The Ouled-Alis, 

 which, with a population of only 50,000, have 10,000 

 guns, expecting an attack from their enemies whom 

 the policy of Abbas Pasha had raised up against them, 

 had formed a corps composed of 6,000 men and a 

 certain number of women whose mission it was to 

 urge on the men to combat by their shouts and songs. 

 In action they are mounted upon camels, and more 

 exposed to danger than the men. The Ouled-Alis 

 formed entrenchments with sandbags and fascines 

 near the village of Hoche, which we shall pass to- 

 morrow. Here they made a stand against their 

 opponents, who lost two hundred men in the attack, 



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