RAINY SEASON BURIAL OF A WOMAN. 
281 
afternoon, beginning about three p.m. ; the showers 
being preceded by a few puffs of strong wind, and 
continuing till an hour before dark. This is fortu- 
nate for us, for we know how to prepare ourselves 
for circumstances. Under tent we have a most 
drenching dampness during the night, continuing 
till the sun gets well up next morning. The people 
say that the rain has given over in Soudan. The 
season is, therefore, later here. The rain, if I may 
use the expression, Avould seem now to travel north ; 
it has, however, began up in the higher regions sur- 
rounding Constantine. When I was there, I be- 
lieve in August 1846, it had already set in; and 
now it will soon begin in Tripoli. At nine a.m. we 
begin to dry our clothes, and we get pretty well 
dried and aired by the time the rain begins again in 
the afternoon. 
The day before yesterday a woman died in Tin- 
talous, and was carried to the grave solely by women. 
This was considered an extraordinary thing by the 
Moors of the coast, but I see nothing extraordinary 
in the circumstance. The fact is, the Moors 
think the men ought to do everything except bear 
children and perform the drudgery of the house- 
hold. 
We have little communication with the town, 
the rain cutting us off from it and its inhabitants. A 
flood of water pours down the valley every evening, 
after which the ground continues all night and all 
next day in a state of wet mud. 
