, abhor women of any age. All their slaves are of
tender years. The older these gentlemen get, the younger they require
their concubines to be. An aged sinner of Aghadez had a mere child with
him. En-Noor is said to have half-a-dozen stout girls running about his
house. Really, to satisfy the passions and sensuality of these Africans,
women should be like the houris of Paradise, and never grow old. Those
that accompanied us were, of course, regarded as mistresses, but were
required also to do nearly all the drudgery of the caravan. Their
masters must have sold much prettier and finer girls at Ghat.

The name of the place where we are now encamped is, as I have said,
Takeesat, and that of the rocky plain we traversed between Esalan and
Aisou is [_omitted in Journal_]. We shall now have great confusion in
the denominations of places, the Tuaricks using one name and the
Kailouees another.

_20th._--We rose early, and at four o'clock were already in motion. It
was a long and weary day--fourteen hours of actual travelling; but this,
thank Heaven! is, we are told, the last long stretch of that kind we
shall have to undertake. The country was nearly similar to that between
Falezlez and Aisou; plains or slightly indented valleys. The granite
appeared again, with sandstone on the top. No herbage was found to-day,
except a few scanty bits here and there.

In the morning our blacks all ran up to a sugar-loaf shaped rock, which
they called their altar or temple, Jama. There they performed certain
strange incantations, after which they descended and began to indulge in
mock-fights, sometimes even simulating an attack upon the caravan. What
was the real meaning of their pantomime it was impossible to make out,
but they amused us exceedingly by their wild gestures and cries.

The three mysterious Haghars still continued to follow us throughout the
day, declaring that they had no evil intentions, but were merely poor
wayfarers journeying to Aheer. They have made friends with the
Tanelkums, with whom they have more points of resemblance than with the
Kailouees. In appearance and manners they are remarkable enough. They
wear a shield of bullock or rhinoceros hide hanging down on one side of
their camels. During our march, it was evidently their desire to show
off; for they moved in order of battle as they called it, in a line, the
two who had spears holding them bravely up. It was certainly a pretty
sight to see them play off this lit