148 
THE BERBERS. 
made friends with me that^ I might give them a charm which 
would procure husbands for their daughters ; they even went 
so far as to offer me money in payment, which it will be 
easily imagined I was far from accepting; but I made no 
scruple of taking milk and sangleh for my support : profiting 
by this innocent stratagem, I had every day gruel or milk for 
breakfast. Before chance furnished me with this method of 
procuring food^ I had given my host a little coussabe, entreat- 
ing him to send me each morning, at least, a small quantity 
of sangleh : the old hypocrite kept my present, but gave me 
nothing in return. One day I reproached him for his con- 
duct, and he returned me my coussabe : I changed it for a 
pair of morocco shoes, for I was barefoot ; in the middle of 
the day, the sun was so scorching, and the gravel and dry 
herbage cut my feet so much, that I had been obliged to 
borrow shoes to walk in. 
The sons of Sidi-Aly, from twenty-eight to thirty years of 
age, not wanting my assistance to find wives, did not treat 
me more kindly than before ; they continued to insult me 
up to the tim€ of my departure ; they even carried their in- 
solence so far as to present themselves uncovered before me 
using the most indecent gestures. Aly, their father, only 
laughed at this conduct, which he witnessed. 
The Arabs of el-Harib are so harassed by the Beraberas, 
or Berbers, to whom they are tributary, that they are fear- 
ful of travelling even in their own country without an escort 
from among these people ; for if these unfortunate Arabs 
were met by the Berbers, they would be beaten and pillaged : 
for this reason we could not proceed to Tafilet without an 
escort. We were therefore obliged to wait for one of the 
chiefs of this nation, who lived in a village of the Drah or 
Braha, and had been sent for. 
On the 3rd of July, this chief arrived at the encampment 
Aly gave him a good reception. They agreed upon the price 
which each load should pay for transport from el-Harib to 
