100 
TRAVELS IN NORTHERN AFRICA. 
CHAP. III. 
proportion of broken pots scattered about tliem. It is a custom 
for the relations of the deceased to visit, and occasionally to recite a 
prayer over the grave, or to repeat a verse of the Koran. Children 
never pass within sight of the tombs of their parents without 
stopping to pay this grateful tribute of respect to their memory. 
Animals are never buried, but thrown on mounds outside the walls, 
and there left. The excessive heat soon dries up all their moisture, 
and prevents their becoming offensive ; and the hair remains on 
them, so that they appear like preserved skins. 
May 15th. — I was attacked with severe dysentery, which con- 
fined me to my bed during twenty-two days, and reduced me to 
the last extremity. Our little party was at this time miserably 
poor, for we had only money sufficient for the purchase of corn to 
keep us alive, and never tasted meat, unless fortunate enough to 
kill a pigeon in the gardens. My illness was the first break up in 
our little community, and from that time it rarely happened that 
one or two of us were not confined to our beds. The extreme 
saltness of the water, the poor quality of our food, together with 
the excessive heat and dryness of the climate, long retarded my 
recovery ; and when it did take place, it was looked on as a 
miracle by those who had seen me in my worst state, and who 
thought it impossible for me to survive. I was no sooner con- 
valescent, than ]\Ir. Kitchie fell ill, and was confined to his bed with 
an attack of bilious fever, accompanied with delirium, and great 
pain in his back and kidneys, for which he required repeated 
cupping. When a little recovered, he got up for two days, but 
his disorder soon returned with redoubled and alarming violence. 
He rejected every thing but water ; and, excepting about three 
hours in the afternoon, remained either constantly asleep, or in a 
delirious state. Even had he been capable of taking food, we had 
jiot the power of purchasing any which could nourish or refresh 
