198 
N - Z E L A N D. 
customed to give nothing to the Moors, part of our caravan 
were compelled to forego their supper. The sherif Sidi-Mou- 
la-Sitec ordered a couscous, and sent a portion of it to the 
sherifs of the company ; the Moors of inferior rank were not 
included in the distribution. 
The Berbers, thinking to gain something by us, made 
cakes of barley-meal, which they sold for a good profit to 
those who had money : encouraged by the success of this 
traffic, they killed two sheep, which they cooked whole at a 
large fire, cut up into small pieces, and sold for four mouga- 
nans, a sum equivalent to eight sous of onr money. But our 
company was so numerous that this provision proved insuf- 
ficient, and those who could not obtain any ate dates only ; a 
poor substitute for more nourishing food. 
On the 8th of August, at three a. m., we quitted 
N-Zeland. The beast I rode being excessively fatigued, I 
was compelled to perform part of this day's journey on foot; 
and still weak, I walked with difficulty over the flinty moun- 
tain roads, pausing every moment to recover breath. I was 
not singular in my misfortune, many of our people were on 
foot, for the poor animals could scarcely drag themselves 
along. Till eight o'clock we proceeded northward, then for 
one hour westward, and afterwards turned again to the 
north. The road was so bad that the asses sunk under their 
burdens ; their haunches were galled by the friction of a 
girth, which it is customary here to pass over the rump in 
the fashion of a crupper, to prevent the load from slipping 
forward in descending steep declivities, while another, which 
girds the breast, performs the same service in ascending. 
The guides without any remorse struck these poor animals 
severe blows to quicken their pace. At two p. m., over- 
come with fatigue, we reached L-Eksebi, where we halted : 
this pretty village is encompassed by a good wall, and con- 
tains about eight hundred inhabitants ; it is situated on an 
extensive plain, watered by the windings of the rivulet 
