owing day, the wind and drifting sand were so violent,
that they were obliged to keep their tents during the whole of it.
Major Denham found a loose shirt only the most convenient covering,
as the sand could be shaken off as soon as it made a lodgement, which
with other articles of dress, could not be done, and the irritation
it caused, produced a soreness almost intolerable. A little oil or
fat, from the hand of a negress, all of whom are early taught the art
of shampooing to perfection, rubbed well round the neck, loins, and
back, is the best cure, and the greatest comfort in cases of this
kind; and although, from his Christian belief, he was deprived of the
luxury of possessing half a dozen of these shampooing beauties, yet,
by marrying his negro, Barca, to one of the freed women slaves, as he
had done at Sockna, he became, to a certain degree, also the master
of Zerega, whose education in the castle had been of a superior kind,
and she was of the greatest use to the major on these occasions of
fatigue or sickness. It is an undoubted fact, and in no case probably
better exemplified than in this, that man naturally longs for
attentions and support from female hands, of whatever colour or
country, so soon as debility or sickness comes upon him.

Towards the evening, when the wind became hushed, and the sky
re-assumed its bright and truly celestial blue, the Tibboo sheik, and
about thirty of his people, male and female, returned; but their
supplies were very scanty for a kafila of nearly three hundred
persons. The sweet milk turned out to be nothing but sour camel's
milk, full of dirt and sand; and the fat was in small quantities, and
very rancid. They, however, purchased a lean sheep for two dollars,
which was indeed a treat.

Some of the girls who brought the milk were really pretty, as
contrasted with the extreme ugliness of the men. They were different
from those of Bilma, were more of a copper colour, with high
foreheads, and a sinking between the eyes. They have fine teeth, and
are smaller and more delicately formed than the Tibboos who inhabit
the towns.

It is quite surprising with what terror these children of the desert
view the Arabs, and the idea they have of their invincibility, while
they are smart, active fellows themselves, and both ride and move
better and quicker; but the guns! the guns! are their dread; and five
or six of them will go round a tree, where an Arab has laid down his
gun for a minute,