piously, and
hurries round the ring, saying that the price of the child is now
thirty-six dollars, and calling upon the buyers to go higher.

I learn that the dilal's commission is two and a half per cent on the
purchase price, and there is a Government tax of five per cent. Slaves are
sold under a warranty, and are returned if they are not properly described
by the auctioneer. Bids must not be advanced by less than a Moorish dollar
(about three shillings) at a time, and when a sale is concluded a deposit
must be paid at once, and the balance on or shortly after the following
day. Thin slaves will not fetch as much money as fat ones, for corpulence
is regarded as the outward and visible sign of health as well as wealth by
the Moor.

"I have a son of my house," says the Moor from the Atlas, with a burst of
confidence quite surprising. "He is my only one, and must have a
playfellow, so I am here to buy. In these days it is not easy to get what
one wants. Everywhere the French. The caravans come no longer from
Tuat--because of the French. From Timbuctoo it is the same thing. Surely
Allah will burn these people in a fire of more than ordinary heat--a
furnace that shall never cool. Ah, listen to the prices," The little
girl's market-value has gone to forty-four dollars--say seven pounds ten
shillings in English money at the current rate of exchange. It has risen
two dollars at a time, and Tsamanni cannot quite cover his satisfaction.
One girl, aged fourteen, has been sold for no less than ninety dollars
after spirited bidding from two country kaids; another, two years older,
has gone for seventy-six.

"There is no moderation in all this," says the Atlas Moor, angrily. "But
prices will rise until our Lord the Sultan ceases to listen to the
Nazarenes, and purges the land. Because of their Bashadors we can no
longer have the markets at the towns on the coasts. If we do have one
there, it must be held secretly, and a slave must be carried in the
darkness from house to house. This is shameful for an unconquered people."

I am only faintly conscious of my companion's talk and action, as he bids
for child after child, never going beyond forty dollars. Interest centres
in the diminishing crowd of slaves who still follow the dilals round the
market in monotonous procession.

The attractive women and strong men have been sold, and have realised
good prices. The old people are in little or no demand; but the
auctioneers will persi