es, and to keep their
instruments from being in continual danger of being broken, by falling
to the ground! I wished to make them take more pains in labouring the
earth, and gather in their harvest with more care; in short, I wished to
polish them, but my attempts were vain; they are more conceited than
their camels, (which is by no means saying little;--much have I suffered
from these animals during the thirteen months I kept them!) What
evidences do they give in every thing they undertake of their want of
capacity! It is not possible to root out their prejudices, or correct
their ill habits. I have seen in the hands of the smith the flourish of
a gun-lock, with which he laboured fifteen whole days. When he had
finished his work, I told him that it was so ill fitted to the case,
that the person to whom it belonged could not make use of it without
running great risks. All the by-standers wished me to make a trial of
it, but I declined it. The workman, however, through the abundance of
his self-conceit, would try it himself, and accordingly it carried off
part of his jaw-bone and hand. I was convinced from what I had seen,
that this gunsmith's want of skill was the occasion of many wounds which
they received in battle.

Often did they question us, if there was not a gunsmith among us. They
seemed to think I was one from the observations which I had made. Their
arms are in the worst condition imaginable. They are in general exported
guns which the Arabs of the tribe of Trargea get in barter for camels.
Some tribes have procured them from ships which have been wrecked on
their coasts, and some bring them so far as from Morocco. These last are
more substantial, but so difficult to manage, that they prefer those
from Europe; and, above all, double-barrelled guns. There is not an Arab
who would not cheerfully give a Christian slave for one of these guns.
When they need repair, it is done with iron which they have abstracted
from ships. I was at first astonished to see with what eagerness they
staved barrels of spirits (_aquavitae_) for the sake of their iron hoops.
I could not have supposed they could have made use of such wretched iron
for that purpose. If metal and guns are objects of such value in their
eyes, one can readily conceive that stones, balls, lead and powder, are
far from being of little consequence with them. They can very well
distinguish good powder from bad. There is a powder manufactory in the
little city o