Arab followers and natives to let off their guns at every opportunity — joy or sorrow, arrival or departure, serving as an excuse for the discharge of firearms. Even a shower of rain causes a reckless waste of powder, and every man fires his gun “ for fear the powder should get wet.” When the rain stops and the sun reappears, he fires another charge “to make sure that the gun has not got damp.” On this special occasion they asked for powder, and were made happy with a couple of barrels, when with yells and dances and the constant discharge of firearms they made night hideous.

A corresponding silence reigned in the enemy's camp, who, I believe, had we been able to attack them, would have stampeded then and there. On the 5th of January three or four hundred women, who had been left behind at