o the party halted and took council in the shade of an old fig
tree. "In my opinion" Said the prince, trying unsuccessfully to dissolve
a tablet of pemmican in a cooking pot, "In my opinion, after this
evening we should get rid of these negro porters. There is an Arab
market near here and our best plan would be to go there and buy some
bourriquots." "No!... No!... No bourriquots!" Interrupted Tartarin, who
had become very red at the memory of Noiraud, adding hypocritically,
"How can these little creatures carry all our equipment?"

The prince smiled, "You are mistaken my illustrious friend," He said,
"The bourriquot may seem to you a poor weak creature, but it has a great
heart... It needs it to support all it has to bear... ask the Arabs. This
is their idea of our administration. On top they say, is the governor
with a big stick which he uses to thump his staff. The staff in turn
thump the soldiers. The soldiers thump the colonist. The colonist thumps
the Arab, the Arab the negro, and the Negro thumps the bourriquot. The
poor little bourriquot having no one to thump, bares its back and puts
up with it. So you can see it is well able to carry all our gear."

"That's all very well." Replied Tartarin, "But I don't think that
donkeys add much colour to the general appearance of our caravan. Now if
we could have a camel...!"

"Just as you wish." Said his highness, and they set off for the market.

The market was held some distance away on the bank of the Cheliff.
There were five or six thousand Arabs milling around in the sun, trading
noisily among piles of olives, pots of honey, sacks of spices and heaps
of cigars. There were fires at which whole sheep were roasting, dripping
with butter. There were open air butcheries where almost naked negroes,
their feet paddling in blood and their arms red to the elbow, were
cutting up the carcases of goats hanging from hooks... In one corner, in
a tent repaired in a thousand different colours, was a Moorish official
with a big book and spectacles. Over there is a crowd. There are cries
of rage. It is a roulette game that has been set up on a corn bin and
the tribesmen gathered about it have started fighting with knives.
Elsewhere, there are cheers, laughter and stamping of feet, a
merchant and his mule have fallen into the river and are in danger of
drowning.... There are scorpions, crows, dogs and flies, millions of
flies, but no camels.

Eventually a camel was discovered which s