'^^*> HOSPITABLE BLACKSMITH. 
family of Aly began to persecute me ; they conceived they 
could not do better than imitate the chief, who, on all oc- 
casions, manifested an implacable hatred to me. The 
women appeared to take pleasure in tormenting me ; they 
would not allow me a tent; the moment I lay down to 
sleep, they played a hundred tricks to oblige me to rise, 
they pricked me with a piece of wood, dragged me by the 
legs, took away my wrapper, and threw water over my 
face. Tired of these endless annoyances I resolved to take 
refuge in the tent of a good blacksmith who had performed 
the pilgrimage to Mecca, which was a great recommendation 
to him in that country : his aged mother was very pious, 
and received me kindly ; she gave me for refreshment milk 
and water, which beverage they, as well as the Braknas 
called cheni. The good old woman thought she was per- 
forming a meritorious act, acceptable to God, in saying 
that her tent was mine, and that 1 might come thither to 
sleep whenever I pleased. Though a devout Mahometan, 
she was full of spirits and fond of a joke, nor did I find her 
given to falsehood like the other women. Sidi-Aly, seeing 
that his people would not endure me in any of his tents, 
had one pitched for me alone, but it was impossible to re- 
main in it, for, as the air entered at one side only, the heat 
was suffocating. 
Early on the 2nd of July, the sister of Sidi-Aly came 
to seek me, holding in her disgusting hands a lump of san- 
gleh covered with hairs, for she had used the same butter to 
grease her head and to season this mess : though I was ex- 
ceedingly hungry I had not courage to taste it. This 
woman, about sixty years of age, took me aside, and said in 
a low voice : " Listen, Abdallahi, thou who wert brought up 
among the christians, who know every thing except the path 
to salvation, thou shouldst be as wise as they are ; and I 
come to pray thee to make me a charm for one of my nieces 
who wants a husband; if thou consentest, and the charm 
