Fortunately I had a bolt to my door, so that I was able
to shut them out. My sleep, however, was very much disturbed, for they
kept on trying the doors and the shutters nearly all night. They have an
intense curiosity concerning European women, and during my toilet next
morning I could see fifty pairs of eyes at fifty chinks in the windows
and doors. It was really very embarrassing, because I could not tell the
sex of the eyes, though I imagined that they belonged to my visitors of
the night before. Dressing as I did __en Amazone_ seemed to afford them
infinite glee; and when I arrived at the cloth nether garments of my
riding-habit, they went into shrieks of laughter. However, I put a bold
face on it, and sallied forth to the square of the village, where I found
the rest of our party. Our horses were being led up and down by the
soldiers; our camels with water in goats' skins, and our baggage beasts,
our camp-followers, and our free-lances, were drawn up on one side. Omar
Beg accompanied us out of the village with a troop of cavalry, and
started us with forty dromedaries, each carrying two soldiers. The
cavalcade looked very fine, and when Omar Beg took his leave of us we
were about one hundred and sixty strong.
We had a long day's march through the desert. It was very hot. We
went through a wild defile, rested, and climbed up a mountain. We then
returned to the plains, and in the afternoon we saw a mirage--castles and
green fields.
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