Chap. LXXII. 
THE KE'l-HEKI'KAN. 
67 
to us in the evening, and, after a long and tedious 
consultation, it was decided to send some people to 
watch the movements of those freebooters. Having 
been met with, they declared they should feel satisfied 
if the Sheikh would consent to deliver up to them the 
person who had first slain one of their companions, 
for this had been the beginning of the feud with the 
Gwanin, although the murderer belonged to the Tur- 
mus, and not to that other tribe which had taken up 
the quarrel. In consequence of these feudal relations 
I had an interesting conversation with the Sheikh, and 
Fandaghiimme, one of the chiefs of the Tademekket 
who had likewise come to join this festival, about the 
feda," or the price of blood, many of the Tawarek 
tribes refusing to accept any feda, but peremptorily 
requiring bloodshed. I have already mentioned these 
freebooters, the Kel-heldkan, on a former occasion ; 
and it is remarkable, that this very tribe, which at 
present is most distinguished by its lawless and san- 
guinary habits, and which in consequence of the almost 
uninterrupted state of warfare in which they are en- 
gaged, was at the time reduced to about forty full- 
grown men, exhibits the finest specimens of manly 
vigour and stately appearance which are to be found 
in this whole region. 
Notwithstanding the importance which the day 
possessed for my protector, the stay in the camp, 
deprived as I was of books or any other source of 
amusement, and of even the smallest European com- 
fort, became more and more tedious to me. My 
