at point. The dress of this
class--the one most frequently met with--is usually of the plainest,
if not of the scantiest; a tattered brown jellab (a hooded woollen
cloak) and a camel's-hair cord round the tanned and shaven skull are
the garments which strike the eye. Waving bare arms and sinewy legs,
with a wild, keen-featured face, lit up by flashing eyes, complete the
picture.

This is the man from whom to learn of love and fighting, of beautiful
women and hairbreadth escapes, the whole on the model of the "Thousand
Nights and a Night," of which versions more or less recognizable
may now and again be heard from his lips. Commencing with plenty
of tambourine, and a few suggestive hints of what is to follow, he
gathers around him a motley audience, the first comers squatting in a
circle, and later arrivals standing behind. Gradually their excitement
is aroused, and as their interest grows, the realistic semi-acting and
the earnest mien of the performer rivet every eye upon him. Suddenly
his wild gesticulations cease at the entrancing point. One step
more for liberty, one blow, and the charming prize would be in the
possession of her adorer. Now is the time to "cash up." With a pious
reference to "our lord Mohammed--the prayer of God be on him, and
peace,"--and an invocation of a local patron saint or other equally
revered defunct, an appeal is made to the pockets of the Faithful "for
the sake of Mulai Abd el Kader"--"Lord Slave-of-the-Able." Arousing as
from a trance, the eager listeners instinctively commence to feel in
their pockets for the balance from the day's bargaining; and as every
blessing from the legion of saints who would fill the Mohammedan
calendar if there were one is invoked on the cheerful giver, one
by one throws down his hard-earned coppers--one or two--and as if
realizing what he has parted with, turns away with a long-drawn breath
to untether his beasts, and set off home.

But exciting as are these acknowledged fictions, specimens are so
familiar to most readers from the pages of the collection referred to
that much more interest will be felt in an attempt to reproduce one
of a higher type, pseudo-historical, and alleged to be true. Such
narratives exhibit much of native character, and shades of thought
unencountered save in daily intercourse with the people. Let us,
therefore, seize the opportunity of a visit from a noted _raconteur_
and reputed poet to hear his story. Tame, indeed, would be the