Atlantida

[Footnote 13: Dialect spoken in Algeria and the Levant--a mixture of

Arabian, French, Italian and Spanish.]

"I only mention in passing the lunch at the Tuileries, the visits in

the evening to the Museum, to the Hotel de Ville, to the Imperial

Printing Press. Each time, the Tuareg inscribed their names in the

registry of the place they were visiting. It was interminable. To give

you an idea, here is the complete name of Sheik Otham alone:

Otham-ben-el-Hadj-el-Bekri-ben-el-Hadj-el-Faqqi-ben-Mohammad-Bouya-

ben-si-Ahmed-es-Souki-ben-Mahmoud.[14] [Footnote 14: I have succeeded in finding on the registry of the Imperial Printing Press the names of the Tuareg chiefs and those who

accompanied them on their visit, M. Henry Duveyrier and the Count

Bielowsky. (Note by M. Leroux.)] "And there were five of them like that!

"I maintained my good humor, however, because on the boulevards,

everywhere, our success was colossal. At the Café de Paris, at

six-thirty, it amounted to frenzy. The delegation, a little drunk,

embraced me: 'Bono, Napoléon, bono, Eugénie; bono, Casimir; bono,

Christians.' Gramont-Caderousse and Viel-Castel were already in booth

number eight, with Anna Grimaldi, of the Folies Dramatiques, and

Hortense Schneider, both beautiful enough to strike terror to the

heart. But the palm was for my dear Clémentine, when she entered. I

must tell you how she was dressed: a gown of white tulle, over China

blue tarletan, with pleatings, and ruffles of tulle over the

pleatings. The tulle skirt was caught up on each side by garlands of

green leaves mingled with rose clusters. Thus it formed a valence

which allowed the tarletan skirt to show in front and on the sides.

The garlands were caught up to the belt and, in the space between

their branches, were knots of rose satin with long ends. The pointed

bodice was draped with tulle, the billowy bertha of tulle was edged

with lace. By way of head-dress, she had placed upon her black locks a

diadem crown of the same flowers. Two long leafy tendrils were twined

in her hair and fell on her neck. As cloak, she had a kind of scarf of

blue cashmere embroidered in gold and lined with blue satin.

"So much beauty and splendor immediately moved the Tuareg and,

especially, Clémentine's right-hand neighbor, El-Hadj-ben-Guemâma,

brother of Sheik Otham and Sultan of Ahaggar. By the time the soup

arrived, a bouillon of wild game, seasoned with Tokay, he was already

much smitten. When they served the compote of fruits Martinique à la

liqueur de Mme. Amphoux, he showed every indication of illimitable

passion. The Cyprian wine de la Commanderie made him quite sure of

his sentiments. Hortense kicked my foot under the table. Gramont,

intending to do the same to Anna, made a mistake and aroused the

indignant protests of one of the Tuareg. I can safely say that when

the time came to go to Mabille, we were enlightened as to the manner

in which our visitors respected the prohibition decreed by the Prophet

in respect to wine.