326 SHIPWRECK OF THE MEDUSA. 
walking and suffering, we arrived at the camp of that tribe to 
which belonged our Arab conductors. We had scarcely got 
into the camp, when the dogs, the children, and the Moorish 
women began to annoy us. Some of them threw sand in 
our eyes, others amused themselves by snatching at our hair, 
on pretence of wishing to examine it. This pinched us, that 
spit upon us ; the dogs bit our legs, whilst the old harpies cut 
the buttons from the officers' coats, or endeavored to take 
away the lace. Our conductors, however, had pity on us, 
and chased away the dogs and the curious crowd, who had 
already made us suffer as much as the thorns which had torn 
our feet. The chiefs of the camp, our guides, and some 
good women, at last set about getting us some supper. Water 
in abundance was given us without payment, and they sold 
us fish dried in the sun, and some bowlfuls of sour milk, all at 
a reasonable price. 
We found a Moor in the camp who had previously known 
my father in Senegal, and who spoke a little French. As 
soon as he recognized him, he cried, " Tiens toi, Picard ! ni a 
pas connaitre moi Amet ? (Hark ye, Picard, know you not 
Amet ?) We were all struck with astonishment at these French 
words coming from the mouth of a Moor. My father recol- 
lected having employed, long ago, a young goldsmith at Sene- 
gal, and discovering the Moor Amet to be the same person, 
shook him by the hand. After that good fellow had been 
made acquainted with our shipwreck, and to what extremities 
our unfortunate family had been reduced, he could not refrain 
from tears ; and this was perhaps the first time a Mussulman 
had ever wept over the misfortunes of a Christian! Amet 
was not satisfied with deploring our hard fate ; he was desi- 
rous of proving that he was generous and humane, and in- 
stantly distributed among us a large quantity of milk and wa- 
ter, free of any charge. He also raised for our fimily a large 
tent of the skins of camels, cattle and sheep, because his re- 
ligion would not allow him to lodge with Christians under the 
same roof The place appeared very dark, and the obscurity 
made us uneasy. Amet and our conductors lighted a large 
fire to quiet us ; and at last bidding us good night, and retir- 
ing to his tent, said: "Sleep iii peace; the God of the 
Christians is also the God of the Mussulmans." 
V/e had resolved to quit this truly hospitable place early 
in the morning, but, during the night, some people, who had 
probably too much money, imagined the Moors had taken us 
to their camp to plunder us. They communicated their fears 
