They Cried Out, "What!

Shall we be so near them, and not eat them?

This night these flocks and women shall be ours." They plunged into the water, but were soon entangled in the holes and mud of the narrow passes. The La Salas, too, were on the alert, poured showers of arrows upon them, and pushed forward their cavalry. The Arabs were totally discomfited, and Barca Gana was wounded in the back through his chain armour.

In this excursion Major Denham obtained some acquaintance with the Shouaa Arabs, also called Dugganahs, a simple and pastoral race, whose principal sustenance is the milk of their herds. They dwell in tents of leather arranged in circular encampments; they wear long beards, and their countenances are serious and expressive. Tahr, the chief, after strictly examining into the motive of his journey, said, "And have you been three years from your home? Are not your eyes dimmed with straining to the north, where all your thoughts must ever be? If my eyes do not see the wife and children of my heart for ten days, they are flowing with tears when they should be closed in sleep." At his departure, Tahr said, "May you die at your own tents, and in the arms of your wife and family!"

The shores of the lake are infested by the Biddoomabs, a piratical tribe who lurk in the many islands scattered upon its ample bosom. They are rude and savage in their manners, despising cultivation: and possessing nearly a thousand canoes, they spread terror and desolation along the shores.

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