TEP.RORS OF THE DESERT. 
ài*8 not insolent, and that they onl y shew courage when they meet 
with no resistance. 
The shipwrecked mariners, winle sittinsç beneath tlie bushes, 
perceived some arrangements winch made them tremble witli 
horror. Tiie Moors put a quantity of stones in a brasier, aïid 
made them red hot; they then lifted up a îage stone, and dug at 
hole in the ground, occasionally making shouts of laughter, and 
repeating the name of Brisson. At length they called him to 
them, and made him approach to the hole ^\ hich they had dug ; 
but M hat was his surprise when he saw theni draw from the hole 
which they had just dug, and in whicli he thought they were 
going to bury him, a large skin full of water, a sack of barley- 
iiour, and a newly-killed goat. His fear subsided, and tlie sight 
of tlie provisions gave him a new life; he saw them fill a large 
wooden bowl with water in which they put a quantity of flonr, 
and then, by throwing into it the red-hot stones, they made it 
boil. By this means they produced a sort of gruei which they 
kneaded in their hands j and ate without chewing, I'he slaves 
had for their repast the same steeped flour, and a veiy small quan- 
tity of brackish water: the goat was reserved for the next clay. 
The guide who went before them had procured those provisions 
in a neighbouring village, and had concealed them under tlm 
stoJie. M. de Brisson observed, that the resentment' of the Moor 
whom he had struck was converted into acts of kindness and com- 
plaisance : for this man brought him a larger share of provisions 
than was allotted to the others. The meal being finished, eack 
man laid himself down to sleep behind the bushes. 
The next morning as soon as day appeared, a signal was given 
for their departure; and M. de Brisson, with the other slave*;, 
were ordered to collect the camels and load them; after whicti 
the troop set off, and at noon stopped in a plain where there wat» 
not a single tree to shade them from the rays of the sun. Having 
unloaded the camels^, the slaves were employed iri digging up 
roots to make a fire ; a labour which, in this country, is the more 
troublesome, as all the trees, roots, and grasses^ are thorny. As 
soon as the fire had imparted a sufiicient heat to the sand, they 
covered the goat entirely with it; and while the slaves were keep- 
ing up the fire, their masters regaled themselves with the raw lat 
of the animal, for which they seemed to have a great relish. 
When the goat was dressed, the Moors, without taking the trouble 
to knock off the sand, ate it with a most incredible voracity, 
gnawing it to the very bones, and pulling oft* the skin which re- 
mained on them w ith then* nails : they then threw the bones to 
the slaves, telling them to make haste and get their dinner, tliat 
they might reload the camels. 
Towards evening tliey perceived some tents on a little eminence. 
