to-day; but to-morrow, probably, they will not, as the law
does not require them to do so when actually travelling.

I have left Doctors Barth and Overweg to take the compass-direction of
this route. To do this when with them would be useless for me, but when
I leave them I must then do all the work I can. Now, it would be only
accumulating on my shoulders useless labour. Besides, they will always
do this kind of thing much better than myself. The same observation
applies to the thermometer. It would be well, however, if I practised
taking observations with them. But we are all sufficiently worked, and
can assist one another but little in these matters.

The wind has been variable for the last three days,--in the evening,
generally N.E. In the afternoon it begins to move round, until it blows
from all the points of the compass. To-day we have hot wind or gusts of
wind. It has been very hot, 105 deg. Fahrenheit under the tent.

Our people suffer much from their fasting. But the Tuaricks do not fast,
and seem to look with scorn upon the Moors and blacks for doing so.
Yusuf says _he_ shall not fast when he in _en route_. A camel has broken
down on the road, and it is found necessary to kill it, to prevent its
dying. Hateetah has given out his decree for its sale. The Tuaricks are
to purchase half and we half of the carcase, at ten reals, or fifty
Tunisian piastres. Of our five reals the Germans take one and a half,
and the Sfaxee a half. This will make it lighter for me. Our people made
a regular feast of the camel's flesh, some of them sitting up and
gorging till midnight. Their noise did not disturb me, for I had slept a
good deal in the day.

I had done very little indeed but sleep and lie down. We felt the heat
severely at noon. A gust of hot wind nearly carried away our tent.

The Tuaricks use spoons, and do not eat with their hands like the Arabs
and Turks; but the latter pretend that the Tuaricks never wash their
hands at all, whilst they, before and after eating, always take this
precaution. In saluting, the Tuaricks do not spread out the fingers much
when they raise their hand, but present the palm and fingers
outstretched to you. One of these gentlemen, whom I call the noisy one,
has got a poor little slave-boy, about seven years of age, who works
like a man, and goes quite naked.

To-day I found a young scorpion in the canvass-case of my writing-desk;
he cocked his tail in a hostile attitude, as if daring a