" So far, so good. But some of the lesser men were heard to
say, "Ah! now the Christians are in peace, and yet they give us nothing.
How much did they give away, and yet get no rest!" Sure enough; but
having been thus forcedly generous, we had now scarcely anything left to
give. It would require a thousand camel-loads to satisfy all the tribes
and people in this route, even if their exigencies did not rise in
proportion to our wealth.
We have not yet been able to procure any provisions in Tintalous. After
a journey of two months, during which we have been obliged to feed the
whole caravan, Kailouees and Tanelkums, to say nothing of the robbers
and bandits, who were pleased to levy this kind of tribute upon us, we
arrive at a friendly town, and can find nothing to eat! This is really
too bad. Fortunately, I put away three bottles of olive oil in the
spirit-boxes. With these and my little macaroni I may manage, perhaps,
to subsist until provisions can be found. But my servants have finished
their last _hemsa_, and the Germans have nothing left. Our last resource
is our biscuits, which I am sorry we are obliged to eat in this early
part of our journey. This supply of biscuits has certainly cost us much
in carriage--many hard dollars; but nevertheless we have found it
excellent for our health, and it now promises to save us from
starvation. We had heard contradictory reports on the road; some people
saying we should find everything in Aheer, and others nothing.
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