258 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



donkeys, immediately after their drivers throw them- 

 selves on the ground, commence munching the thorns 

 and grass by the roadside, and when all is ready are 

 led off from the direct road. The three poor wretches, 

 fatigued by the night's march, without water or shoes, 

 and with their hands tied behind their backs, are 

 driven by blows and menaces, screaming, after the 

 camels which they so lately governed. Well may 

 they shed tears of anguish, for well they know their 

 fate. Never in their surliest mood did they inflict 

 such cruel treatment on their cattle as they them- 

 selves are now doomed to undergo from their fellow- 

 creatures; and all hopes of home, of wife, children, 

 and kindred, have vanished like the dreams of the 

 previous night ! The rest of their life is doomed to 

 be passed in slavery, amongst a people indifferent to 

 human sufferings and unacquainted with mercy. This 

 deed of infamy performed, the Turkomans move on 

 to the well, or lie in wait for another kafilali. Per- 

 haps the next may consist of travellers : an old man, 

 his wife, and only son, have been persecuted in one 

 city, and, to save their little remaining property, are 

 flying to another town, where they have friends, to 

 the daughter of one of whom the son has been long 

 betrothed. The old man's wife and the slave girl of 

 the family (most probably called Fatima) are seated 

 in panniers on the leading camel's back ; two more 

 camels carry the wealth of the family, and perhaps 

 they have two servants riding on the top of the 



