o the _prairies_ of
America, and their savage denizens. He was forcibly reminded of these by
what he now saw in this oasis of the sandy Saaera; the women treated like
dogs, or worse,--doing all the work that might be termed labor,--tending
the cattle, cooking the meals, pitching or striking the tents, loading
the animals,--and themselves bearing such portions of the load as
exceeded the transport strength of the tribal quadrupeds,--aided only by
such wretched helots as misfortune had flung in the way of their common
masters. The men, mostly idle,--ludicrously nonchalant,--reclining on
their saddle-pads, or skins, inhaling the narcotic weed, apparently
proud in the possession of that lordship of wretchedness that surrounded
them.

Colin was constrained to compare the savage life of two continents,
separated by an ocean. He came to the conclusion, that under similar
circumstances, mankind will ever be the same. In the Comanche of the
_Llano Estacado_, or the Pawnee of the Platte, he would have found an
exact counterpart of the Ishmaelitish wanderer over the sandy plains of
the Saaera.

He was allowed but scant time to philosophize upon these ethnological
phenomena. As the douar became stirred into general activity, he, along
with his two companions, was rudely started from his attitude of
observation, and ordered to take a share in the toils of the captors.

At an earlier hour, and still more rudely, had Sailor Bill received the
commands of his master; who, as the first rays of the Aurora began to
dapple the horizon, had ordered the old man-o-war's-man to his feet, at
the same time administering to him a cruel kick, that came very near
shivering some of his stern timbers.

Had the black sheik been acquainted with the English language,--as
spoken in Ratcliff Highway,--he would have better understood Sailor
Bill's reply to his rude matutinal salutation; which, along with several
not very complimentary wishes, ended by devoting the "nayger's" eyes to
eternal perdition.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

AN OBSTINATE DROMEDARY.

The morning meal was eaten as soon as prepared. Its scantiness
surprised our adventurers. Even the more distinguished individuals
of the horde partook of only a very small quantity of milk, or
sangleh. The two sheiks alone got anything like what might have been
deemed an ordinary breakfast; while the more common class, as the
half-breeds--_hassanes_--and the negro slaves had to content themselves
with