n
can carry away a camel on his back, but not lift a sheep. This they
firmly believe. The reason assigned is, that in former times (when
animals spoke), the lion said, "I will carry off this sheep, with or
without the consent of Allah;" and Allah said to the lion, "You shall
not;" and from that time the monarch has never been able to lift a
sheep. At one time the man and the lion were great friends, and the
lion did not know he was stronger than the man. One day, as they were
out walking together, a thorn ran into the lion's foot; he limped, and
stopped to pull it out, when the man, in derision, said, "What! so
strong a creature hurt with a thorn?" Then the lion in anger ran the
thorn into the man's eye, who cried out with pain. This proved to the
lion the man's inferiority, and ever after they were declared enemies.
At a place called Tibursok, where A----'s party passed on their road
to Keff, not a Christian, or even a Jew, were to be seen, consequently
the Arabs were very intolerant. D---- walked into this town alone, in
front of the party, and, speaking Arabic well, questioned one of the
Arabs about some ruin, when another came up and said, "Why do you
attend to that dog of a Christian?" D---- took no notice, when the
other shouted out, "Cursed be your father, your mother, and all the
members of your house." D---- then collared him; the Arab inquired,
"What for?" "Because you cursed my relatives," said D----, seeing the
rest of the party with the Bey's escort coming up, "and now, just
show me the Caid's residence, and I will have you bastinadoed."
However, as some of the other Arabs crowded round and begged for
mercy, D---- thought it better to let him off.

CHAPTER XV.

HOME!

My fellow-passenger, the Sportsman.--Passage from Tunis to Malta
in a Sailing Vessel.--Disagreeables of the Passage.--Home,
Overland.--Conclusion.

On the steamer _Meludiah_, for Malta, I found a sporting Frenchman
on deck. He had been my fellow-passenger from Bona to Tunis, and
carried a revolver and a gun; the first for porpoises, the second
for gulls, &c. He recounted to me, with great glee, how he had shot a
grosbeak, and some other small birds, near Tunis, and given them to
the cook on board for our dinner. It was a Mussulman steamer, and,
being Rhamazan, they did not serve dinner till after sunset. I was
nearly famished. The first course was salad served with rancid oil,
which immediately brought me and the Frenchman