194 SHIPWRECK OF M. DE BRISSON. 
in a goat's skin, which they had lined with a kind of pitch to 
prevent it from corrupting, by which its smell was rendered 
doubly disgusting. This water was our only drink, and, bad 
as it was, our allowance was extremely scanty. 
At dinner time the next day our masters regaled upon raw 
fat, of which they appeared remarkably fond. As soon as the 
meat was roasted, or rather baked, they took it from the earth, 
and, without taking time to free it from the sand which adhered 
to it, they devoured it with excessive voracity. Having well 
picked the bones, they used their nails to scrape off the re- 
maining flesh, and then threw them to us, telling us at the same 
time to eat quickly and unload the camels, that our journey 
might not be delayed. 
Passing some of the tents, the women, still more ferocious 
than the men, took pleasure in tormenting us, while our mas- 
ters durst scarcely oppose them. Having retired to a small 
distance from my load, I perceived a man taking aim at me 
with a double-barreled fusee, upon which I presented my breast 
to him, desiring him to fire. He was greatly astonished at this 
firmness, and his surprise tended to confirm me in my opinion 
that these people are impressed with respect when a person 
appears not to fear them. I was advancing toward this man, 
when I was struck on the head, and for a few moments de- 
prived of sense, by a stone from an unknown hand, but which 
I suspected to have been thrown by his wife. 
After resting three days among the Arabs of the tribe of 
Roussye, we resumed our journey, penetrating farther into the 
interior of the country, where we were to join the families of 
our conductors. After being exposed for sixteen days to the 
greatest fatigues and dreadful miseries, we at length reached 
the end of our journey, in a most wretched and exhausted 
condition. 
Being observed upon the brow of a hill, several of the black 
slaves, whose principal employment is to tend the camels, 
came to meet our masters, in order to kiss their feet and in- 
quire after their health. As we proceeded, the children made 
the air resound with shouts of joy, and the women standing 
up, out of respect, awaited at the door of their tents the arri- 
val of their husbands. Upon their approach they advanced 
toward them with an air of submission, and each, after pros- 
trating before her husband, laid her right hand on his head 
and kissed it. This ceremony being finished, they began to 
satisfy their curiosity with regard to us, and to load us with 
abuse; but they did not stop here, for, they even spit in our 
