120 TRAVELS IN 
been removed ; and if I had not taken the 
precaution to make a long ftay at each of 
the ftaticns where I halted, they would not 
have been able to perform the journey, and 
muft one after another have perifhed on the- 
way. . - 
This new phn alarmed them more than any 
preceding one : but, as they pofTefTed a great- 
er fhare of acutenefs than their comrades, and 
were confequently lefs free arid open, they 
had addrefs enough to conceal their pufillani- 
mity under the moll: fpecious pretence?. To 
fpeak to me of the Houzouanas would have 
been imprudently betraying themfelves ; they 
did not even fo much as pronounce theiu 
name ; but, affecEling to (hew themfelves good 
fathers and good huihands, they reminded 
me, with feigned tendernefs, of their wives 
and children, whom they would perhaps 
have beaten had they been near them. They 
talked alio of their fatigues and their health ; 
and, above all, of the local and particular ob- 
ftacles which would arife in the execution of 
my projed. 
Could I have believed the people of th^e horde^ 
I had indeed to traverfe a defcrt which would 
require 
