Moor's pistol, and amused himself for some time with opening and shutting
the pan; at length, taking up his powder horn, he fresh primed it; and
turning round to me with a menacing look, said something in Arabic, which
I did not understand. I desired my boy, who was sitting before the tent,
to inquire what offence I had committed; when I was informed that having
gone out of the camp without Ali's permission, they suspected that I had
some design of making my escape; and that, in future, if I was seen
without the skirts of the camp, orders had been given that I should be
shot by the first person that observed me.

In the afternoon the horizon, to the eastward, was thick and hazy, and
the Moors prognosticated a sand wind; which accordingly commenced on the
morning following, and lasted, with slight intermissions, for two days.
The force of the wind was not in itself very great; it was what a seaman
would have denominated a _stiff breeze_; but the quantity of sand and
dust carried before it was such as to darken the whole atmosphere. It
swept along from east to west, in a thick and constant stream, and the
air was at times so dark and full of sand, that it was difficult to
discern the neighbouring tents. As the Moors always dress their victuals
in the open air, this sand fell in great plenty among the kouskous; it
readily adhered to the skin, when moistened by perspiration, and formed a
cheap and universal hair powder. The Moors wrap a cloth round their face
to prevent them from inhaling the sand, and always turn their backs to
the wind when they look up, to prevent the sand falling into their eyes.

About this time, all the women of the camp had their feet, and the ends
of their fingers, stained of a dark saffron colour. I could never
ascertain whether this was done from motives of religion, or by way of
ornament. The curiosity of the Moorish ladies had been very troublesome
to me ever since my arrival at Benowm; and on the evening of the 25th,