THE PILGRIM CARAVAN. 
115 
person is quite humanized, and talks freely of the 
politics of the Barbary coast. He entertained 
myself, the German, the Greek doctor, and 
Gagliuffi with tea ; and this at sunset, when all the 
other pilgrims were at their prayers. He is a 
Tuatee of Gharai, and has been many times to 
Mekka in his present capacity. Indeed he makes 
the journey about once every three years. The 
pilgrim caravans travel very fast ; no others can 
keep up with them. On leaving any place where 
they have halted, the Sheikh has the privilege of 
demanding the release of two or three prisoners ; 
and the scandalous whisper that any Barabbas can 
sometimes obtain his liberty by a judicious invest- 
ment of presents. When encamped near a town, 
moreover, the tent of the Sheikh becomes an in- 
violable asylum for every criminal who chooses to 
take refuge there. Many other privileges equally 
valuable are enjoyed by this functionary. Abd-el- 
Kader himself is an extremely urbane gentleman, 
and we retired quite satisfied with our reception. 
He gave me a vocabulary of the Tuatee dialect, 
and some account of the statistics of the place, 
which I forwarded to the Foreign Office. It 
appears that formerly the people of Tuat paid to 
the Algerines five hundred camel-loads of dates and 
ten necks of gold, L e. the gold ornaments some- 
times worn round the camels' necks. When the 
French made their conquest, they sent to the Tuatees 
to renew their tribute to them, as the actual masters 
