workmanship to-day, observing, "There is great profit in its power; it
will preserve you from the cut of the sword and the firing of the gun."
I pray not to have occasion to test its efficacy, but hope it may also
serve as a protection from the bite of scorpions, which are so plentiful
about here, and are said, at this season, to jump like grasshoppers.
According to the people of Tintalous there are three species of them,
each distinguished by a different colour--black, red, and yellow.
Despite the talk of these disgusting reptiles I went in the evening to
see the wells which supply Tintalous with water. They are nothing more
than holes scooped out of the sand in the bed of the wady, and supplied
by _ma-el-matr_, "rain-water," which collects only a few feet under the
sand, and passes through no minerals.

I afterwards proceeded to the encampment of the slave caravan, which is
going in a few days to Ghât. A native of that place--the chief,
indeed--was exceedingly rude at our first rencounter, and the following
dialogue took place:--

_The Ghâtee._ Where are you going?

_Myself._ I am going to Sakkatou.

_The Ghâtee._ What for?

_Myself._ To see the Sultan, who is my friend.

_The Ghâtee._ How do you know him?

_Myself._ The English have known him for years past.