74 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XL. 
afterwards, just in this elevated position, the difference 
between the cold of the night and the heat of the day 
extraordinary. Our appetite being rather keen, we 
indulged in the luxury of some turtle-soup : for 
turtles are by no means a rarity in these districts, 
although in general they seem to be of a rather small 
size. I do not remember to have seen or heard in 
this quarter of such large specimens as seem to be 
common in the country round Air. 
Monday, ^he ^ a y °^ tne el kebir. I went in the 
October 6th. morning, as soon as the sun began to shine 
forth, to a place in a cool shade a little south from our 
encampment, without knowing that this was the very 
spot which the Arabs had chosen for their holiday 
prayers. In general only a few of them were pray- 
ing ; but to-day the leading persons among them, 
who came here with Sheikh Ghet, offered up their 
prayer with solemnity and apparent fervour. 
This proved an unlucky day to us, and very 
unfavourable to our design to penetrate into those 
dangerous districts on the east side of the lake ; for 
a considerable portion of the tribe (one hundred 
and fifty men with about seventy horses) left that day 
for Kukawa, to our great surprise and mortifica- 
tion, and, as it would seem, also to the mortification 
of the young chief, a circumstance of which we 
became fully aware when we paid him a visit about 
noon. Of course, with our very small means, and 
the poor and insignificant character of our mission, 
we could not expect that this unsettled horde should 
