68 
THE sheikh's requests. 
have puslied on ahead, impatient to arrive. We sus- 
pected they had taken the wrong route, and did 
not remember to have seen the track of their horses' 
hoofs on the sand as we advanced. At first we were 
not sorry that they were suffering a little for their 
bad conduct all the way from Tripoli, to which I have 
only made passing allusions. But then we began to 
be alarmed for their safety, and begged the Sheikh 
to send a man after them with water. They did not 
make their appearance until morning, when we 
learned that with immense fatigue they had suc- 
ceeded in striking the valley lower down at another 
village, where they had tarried the remainder of the 
night. As might be expected, they were in no good 
humour after their excursion in the sand; but our 
people, who had enjoyed a brief respite of unwonted 
tranquillity during their absence, instead of con- 
doling with them, received them with laughter and 
jeers. 
The Sheikh Abd-el-Hady sent us breakfast, and 
he and his people were far more polite than yester- 
day. We learned that there was a caravan in the 
wady about to start for Ghat, and I took the op- 
portunity to write to that place to produce a proper 
impression of our views and intentions, as I learned 
that a very erroneous one had gone abroad. The 
Sheikh and his elders came to ask me to lend them 
twelve mahboubs, to make up the amount of tribute 
now being collected by the agents of the Pasha of 
Mourzuk. Of course I did not consent, represent- 
