INTERIOR OF AFRICA. Igl 
ged them to desist, and returned with them to the camp. When 
we entered Ali's tent, we found him much out of humour. He 
called for the Moor's pistol, and amused himself for some time 
with opening and shutting the pan ; at length, taking up his 
powder horn, he fresh primed it ; and turning round to me with 
a menacing look, said something in Arabic, which I did not un- 
derstand. I desired my boy, who was sitting before the tent, 
to inquire what offence I had committed ; when I was informed 
that having gone out of the camp without Ali's permission, they 
suspected that I had some design of making my escape ; and 
that, in future, if I was seen without the skirts of the camp, 
orders had been given that I should be shot by the first person 
that observed me. 
In the afternoon the horizon, to the eastward, was thick and 
hazy, and the Moors prognosticated a sand wind ; which ac- 
cordingly commenced on the morning following, and lasted, 
with slight intermissions, for two days. The force of the wind 
was not in itself very great : it was what a seaman would have 
denominated a stiff breeze ; but the quantity of sand and dust 
carried before it, was such as to darken the whole atmosphere. 
It swept along from east to west, in a thick and constant stream, 
and the air was at times so dark and full of sand, that it was 
difficult to discern the neighbouring tents. As the Moors al- 
ways dress their victuals in the open air, this sand fell in great 
plenty amongst the kouskous : it readily adhered to the skin, 
when moistened by perspiration, and formed a cheap and uni- 
versal hair powder. The Moors wrap a cloth round their face, 
to prevent them from inhaling the sand, and always turn their 
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