5th. They insisted on having the presents for Berka, Khanouhen, and
Jabour, before the treaty was signed.
The first two demands I successfully resisted, as also the third at
Ghat. The fourth was compromised; we paid twenty-eight reals instead of
seventy. The last I yielded, on the condition that I should only give
three burnouses.
_13th._--The water of Esalan is, likewise, nothing but a deposit of
rain. Several holes are scooped out in the sand, down to the rocky bed
of the valley.
CHAPTER XIII.
News of Sidi Jafel--Disputes with Wataitee--His violent Conduct and
strange Language--The Desert--Scarcity of Money--Proceed through a rocky
Country--Soudan Weather--Approach the Frontiers of Aheer--Storm--Hard
Day's Travelling--The Seven Wells of Aisou--"The Haghar are
coming"--Suspicious Characters--Alarm--The Three Strangers--Our
Hospitality--Heat of the Weather--Hard Travelling--Account of the
Kailouee Guides--Women of the Caravan--Their Treatment--Youthful
Concubines--Another long Day--A Rock-Altar--Demonstrations of the
Haghar--Wells of Jeenanee--Marks of Rain--Sprightly Blacks--New
Climate--Change in the Vegetation and the Atmosphere.
We have at length heard what appears to be a fair account of the rumour
respecting that terrible Sidi Jafel. He did leave Janet as if bound for
Tajetterat; but it was for the purpose of giving his camels a feeding of
herbage in that direction.
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