TRAVELS IN THE SAHARA. 
tyrants, to throw stones at the Christians and spit 
in their faces, while the children imitated the 
example of their mothers. Brisson, who endea- 
voured to ingratiate himself with his master's fa- 
vourite, not only failed in this, but incurred her 
implacable resentment, through his irritability, 
which, to the Arab women, seemed extremely to 
resemble petulance. During his residence with 
8idi Mahomet, the hardships he endured were 
almost incredible. With the excessive heat, the 
milk of the sheep, goats, and camels diminished, 
and then the dogs fared better than the Christians, 
who were forced to subsist on wild herbs and raw 
snails. When the rains fell, and the least pres- 
sure made the water to spring up through the 
sandy soil, the Christians slept behind a bush, un- 
sheltered, on the bare ground. Brisson and his 
master sometimes reasoned about religion, when 
the latter always answered the harangues of the 
former by declaring, that he preferred a bowl of 
churned milk to such absurdities. Several of his 
companions perished, and were left by the Arabs 
to be devoured by the ravens while in the strug- 
gles of death. One of them was supposed to be 
murdered by his master, for milking his camels 
clandestinely. An application made by Brisson 
to the consul at Mogadore, by a letter entrusted 
to a .Jewish merchant, was frustrated through the 
negligence of the vice-consul j and the Labdes- 
