not be confounded with the Sultan of Aheer bearing the
same name, came in and told us that he had just seen Wataitee, who was
exceedingly exasperated, and who threatened to stop the caravan in the
morning if his demands were not complied with. What is to be done? Were
we to aim at satisfying all the unjust claims made upon us, we should
not only be beggared immediately, but should have whole crowds of fresh
suppliants coming in every day. Wataitee seems to expect that I should
give him something like a hundred reals in money for his pretended extra
services, and goes thundering about, "that the lands, and rocks, and
mountains of Ghat do not belong to God, but to the Azgher, to whom the
Creator has given them once and for ever, and who are the sovereign and
omnipotent rulers of this portion of earth--this large tract of Sahara."
There has often been detected in the speeches of African princes a
certain degree of blasphemy and resistance to the omnipotent sovereignty
of the Deity they adore; and this kind of language was not new to me.
The possessors of lawless power seem easily to identify themselves with
gods.

To us, naked rocks, and treeless valleys, and bare stony plains, are
objects without interest, except in a geological point of view. But it
is very different with the Haghar and Azgher. In their eyes, a plain of
stones and sand holds the place of a heath of growing bloom; a barren
valley is a vale of fertility; rocks and mountains are always objects of
beauty; whilst wells are treasured of wealth, as indeed they are verily
in the desert. A Tuarick may be said to know every stone of his arid
kingdom.

Taking these things into consideration, and making a merit of necessity,
we agreed together to offer him thirty reals. He had already come down
to fifty, and now accepted the thirty, but said they must be the large
ones, or _douros_ (dollars). It was arranged that I should pay the money
to En-Noor in Aheer; for all now had become convinced that not one of us
three had any dollars worth speaking of left. I believe I have some six
or seven, whilst the Germans have none. If we had brought a thousand
with us, they would all have been scattered to the wind in these Tuarick
countries. Our servants, being persuaded that we have no dollars left,
have sworn to the fact; so that my candid declaration, "That if they
were to kill me, they could not find ten dollars to pay them for their
trouble," is now believed.

_14th._--W