SMALL CARAVANS DESERT GOSSIP. 325 
sioned their being murdered. The news has pro- 
duced great excitement. 
The people begin to see the evil effects of coun- 
tenancing the forced exactions made upon us. This 
will be an instructive lesson to the holy marabouts 
of Tintaghoda, who headed the tribes of the frontier 
against us unfortunate Christians. 
When we met these very small caravans on 
the road, with only two owners, three or four ser- 
vants, and some forty or fifty slaves, and all without 
arms, or perhaps with only a couple of swords, I 
used to wonder at their apparent security, and could 
not help observing, when we were night and day 
pursued by bandits, " These robbers must have an 
extraordinary affection for Muslims, and be very 
Deists themselves ; for these few defenceless people 
pass unmolested, and we are pursued continually, 
although our caravan is full of arms." 
En-Noor and the new Sultan of Aghadez have 
been talking loudly of a razzia to the north ; they 
will now see its absolute necessity, unless the route 
between Aheer and Ghat is to be closed, except for 
very large caravans. 
The Fezzanees who left Ghat nineteen days 
after us also say that before they started the news 
had arrived there that the Christians were all mur- 
dered by the people of Janet. They add, besides, 
that they met Waldee at Tajetterat, together with 
the people of Janet, amounting to seventy maharees, 
all encamped there. If true, probably these were 
