ast, he walks round the tables with a baton
in his hand, seeing that the servants attend properly to his guests.
Afterwards, if any thing is left, he eats; but not until the others have
finished.

When the governor of Constantinople, the only man whose power he
recognizes, sends him a traveller; according to the rank of the latter,
or the nature of the recommendation Bou-Akas gives him his gun, his dog,
or his knife. If the gun, the traveller takes it on his shoulder; if the
dog, he leads it in a leash; or if the knife, he hangs it round his
neck: and with any one of these potent talismans, of which each bears
its own degree of honor, the stranger passes through the region of the
twelve tribes, not only unscathed, but as the guest of Bou-Akas, treated
with the utmost hospitality. When the traveller is about to leave Ferdj'
Onah, he consigns the knife, the dog, or the gun to the care of the
first Arab he meets. If the Arab is hunting, he leaves the chase; if
laboring in the field, he leaves his plough; and, taking the precious
deposit, hastens to restore it to the Bou-Akas.

The black-handled knife is so well known, that it has given the surname
of "Bou-Djenoni, _the man of the knife_," to its owner. With this
implement he is accustomed to cut off heads, whenever he takes a fancy
to perform that agreeable office with his own hand.

When first Bou-Akas assumed the government, the country was infested
with robbers, but he speedily found means to extirpate them. He
disguised himself as a poor merchant; walked out, and dropped a _douro_
(a gold coin) on the ground, taking care not to lose sight of it. If the
person who happened to pick up the _douro_, put it into his pocket and
passed on, Bou-Akas made a sign to his _chinaux_ (who followed him, also
in disguise, and knew the Scheik's will) rushed forward immediately, and
decapitated the offender. In consequence of this summary method of
administering justice, it is a saying amongst the Arabs that a child
might traverse the regions which own Bou-Akas's sway, wearing a golden
crown on his head, without a single hand being stretched out to take it.

The Scheik has great respect for women, and has ordered that when the
females of Ferdj' Onah go out to draw water, every man who meets them
shall turn away his head. Wishing one day to ascertain whether his
commands were attended to, he went out in disguise: and, meeting a
beautiful Arab maiden on her way to the well, approached