Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa, Vol. 1 (of 5)

As it was, we felt heartily glad when our steady and heavy Tripolitan tent being at length pitched, we were able to stretch ourselves without being covered with sand. All the people were greatly fatigued, and required repose more than anything else. Out of regard to the men as well as to the camels, we were obliged to stay here the following day, though the place was comfortless in the extreme, and did not offer the smallest bit of shade. The accompanying sketch, which I made this day of the place, with the slope of the Hammáda in the background, will give but a faint idea of its desolate character. Scarcely any of our places of encampment on the whole journey seemed to me so bad and cheerless as this. If I had had an animal to mount, I would have gone on to a cluster of three or four date-trees, which are said to be at the distance of about three miles west from the well, and belong to the people of Zintán, to enjoy a little shade; but our camels were too much distressed.

CHAP. VI.

Thursday, April 25th.Continuing our march, we soon came to the Shʿabet e’ talha, the bottom of which is clothed with the brushwood called arfísh, and with the rétem, or broom. Further on, when we came upon the higher rocky ground, the country grew more sterile, though we were so fortunate as to catch two gazelles. Black masses of sandstone jutted out on all sides, and gave a wild air to the desolate region through which we were passing. The sterile character of the scene underwent no change till next morning, when, on advancing about a mile and a half, we came to the Wadi Siddre, which was enlivened by a few talha-trees. A narrow defile led us from this place to the Wadi Boghár, whence we entered another defile. Mid-day was past, when we obtained a distinct view of the date-grove in Wadi Sháti[53], and the high sand-hills which border the valley on the south. Towards the north it was rather open, and we hastened on to escape from the hot desert through which we were marching; but a good while elapsed before we reached the border of the valley, which on this side abounded in herbage. After a mile and a half we reached the first wild palm-trees, thriving in separate and casually-formed groups. Then followed a belt of bare black ground, covered with a whitish crust of salt. The town, on the top of a broad terraced rock, seemed as far off as ever. But I urged on my Bu-Séfi along the winding path over the hard ground; Richardson and Overweg followed close behind, while the camel-drivers had fallen back to exchange their dirty costume for one more decent. At length we reached the north-western foot of the picturesque hill, and chose our camping-ground beyond the shallow bed of a torrent between the date-trees and the corn-fields, near the largest fountain,—a very agreeable resting-place, after the dreary desert which we had traversed.

We had felt tired so long as the place was yet ahead of us; but we had no sooner reached it than all fatigue was gone, and Overweg and I, under the guidance of a mʿallem, went forth to view the interesting features of the locality. It is certainly a very rare spectacle in this quarter of the world, to see a town on the top of a steep terraced hill in the midst of a valley, and occupying an advantageous position which might be supposed to have given the place great importance from very ancient times. Éderi seems to have been a considerable place till fourteen years ago, when the independent spirit of its inhabitants was broken by the despotism of ʿAbd el Jelíl ben Séf e’ Nasr, the famous chief of the Welád Slimán. The old town on the top of the hill having been destroyed, and there being no longer a necessity for a fortified residence, under the civilized though exhausting government of the Turks, the new village was built at the northern foot of the hill, on which side lies the chapel of the Merábet Bu-Derbála, and another of less fame, a little east of the former, called Sidi ʿAbd e’ Salám.

The new village has two gates. Crossing it, we ascended the steep narrow streets of the old town, which seems to have been densely inhabited, and from the highest part, which is 190 feet above the bottom of the valley, obtained a very interesting view over a great part of the wadi, with its varied features,—here, black sandstone, which in several places forms hills of considerable extent; there, green fields of wheat and barley; then, again, a large grove of date-trees scattered in long narrow strips behind the high sand-hills bordering the valley on the south. The black ground, covered with a whitish crust, lay bare and naked in many parts, while in others it was entirely overgrown with herbage. Towards the south the slope of the rock on which the town stands is rather steep and precipitous. On this side lie the caverns which have been already noticed by Oudney, and which are interesting only on account of the oval-shaped form in which they have been excavated, as they are neither remarkable for dimensions nor for regularity; their general shape is this: A larger group of caverns has been made in a detached rocky eminence, upon which at present the cemetery is situated; but it is only seventy-two feet in length, and its ground-plan is far from being regular.

From this place I went through the adjoining grove, which, with a little more care, might easily become a very beautiful plantation; for there are a great many wells of very little depth, and the water is led through the channels with slight trouble. Our encampment in the beautiful moonlight, with not a breath of wind to disturb the tranquillity of the scene, was pleasant in the extreme, and we all felt much delighted and greatly restored.

Early on Sunday morning, after having finished my sketch of the village on the hill, with our encampment in the foreground, I took a walk all round the scattered groups of the plantation, which must have suffered a great deal from ʿAbd el Jelíl, even though the number of 6000 trees, which he is said to have cut down, be an exaggeration. Towards the east side the salt crust is still thicker than on the west, and is very unpleasant for walking. I found here that, in addition to wheat and barley, much amára was cultivated in the garden-fields, besides a few figs; but I saw no grapes. Several families were living here outside in light huts or sheds made of palm-branches, and seemed to enjoy some degree of happiness. At the south-east end of the plantation rose a hill also formed of marl, and very similar to that on which the town is situated. The names of the villages along the valley, proceeding from west to east, are the following: after Éderi, Témesán; then Wuenzerík, Berga (a couple of villages distinguished as B. el foka and B. el utíyah), Gúta, Turut, El Ghurda, Meherága, Agár, Gógam, Kosaer Sellám, Támezawa, Anerúya, Zeluáz, Abrák, Gíreh, Debdeb, and Ashkiddeh. The valley has two kaíds, one of whom, ʿAbd el Rahmán, resides at present in Temesán, while the residence of the other, ʿAgha Hassan e’ Rawi, is in Támezawa. Meherága seems to be the most populous of the villages. Abrák has the advantage of a school.

April 28th.We left our picturesque encampment in order to commence the passage over the sand-hills which separate the shallow “rent” of Wadi Shiyáti from the deeper valley the Wadi el Gharbi, the great valley par excellence. It is rather singular that even the higher ground, which is elevated about fifty feet above the bottom of the valley, is entirely covered with a crust of salt. Having traversed this, we began the ascent of the sand-hills, which in several favoured spots present small clusters of palm-trees, which too have their proprietors. Mukni, the father of Yusuf, Mr. Richardson’s interpreter, is said to have killed a great many Welád Slimán hereabouts. The most considerable of the depressions or hollows in the sand, which are decked with palm-trees, is the Wadi Shiúkh, which afforded in truth a very curious spectacle,—a narrow range of palm-trees half-buried between high sand-hills, some of them standing on the tops of hillocks, others in deep hollows, with the head alone visible. At length, after a good deal of fatigue, we encamped in Wadi Góber, another shallow cavity between sand-hills with brackish water and a few palm-trees. Here our camel-drivers themselves possessed a few trees, and, of course, were more interested in the inspection of their own property than in starting at an early hour the next day.

When we resumed our march we found our work more difficult than before, the sand-hills assuming a steepness most trying for the camels, particularly at the brink of the slopes. We were several times obliged to flatten away the edges with our hands, in order to facilitate the camel’s ascent. I went generally a little in front, conducted by Mohammed ben Sbaeda, one of our camel-drivers, who, from the moment we had entered Fezzán, had exchanged the quarrelsome character by which he had made himself disagreeable to us, for very obliging and pleasing manners, and was anxious to give me every information. He told me that this belt of sand extended in a south-west and north-east direction from Dwésa as far as Fukka, a place, according to him, five days’ march on this side of Sókna. He added, that however high and steep we might think these sand-hills, they were nothing in comparison with those in the direction of the natron-lakes; but, in making this remark, I think he wanted to excuse himself and his companions for taking us this long way round by the west. He knew that it was our desire to visit the natron-lakes, and that our direct way to Murzuk led by those lakes, while their object was to take us to their native village Ugréfe. Mohammed stated that each district in Fezzán has its own peculiar dialect; and he contended that, while the inhabitants of Wadi Sháti speak a good sort of Arabic, similar to that spoken in Mizda, the people of the great wadi (Wadi el Gharbi) make use of a corrupt dialect.

Meanwhile the caravan remained very far behind, and we thought it prudent to wait for them in Wadi Tawíl, particularly as the path divided here. It was so hot that my camel, when I let it loose to browse a little, would not touch anything. When the other camel-drivers at length came up, there was a dispute as to the path to be followed; but the truth was, that while there could be no doubt about the direct road to Murzuk, some of the camel-drivers wished to take us to Ubári. But at length the other party, interested only in carrying us westward as far as Ugréfe, which was a great deal out of our route, got the upper hand, and we left the road to Ubári, which passes only two wadis, or hollows, called Tekúr and Uglah, both with bad water, to the west, and followed the road to Ugréfe.

About four o’clock in the afternoon we encamped in the Wadi Mukméda, near the sand-hills bordering its southern side, under the shade of a wild palm-bush. Close to it was very good water only two feet below the surface; but as the hole had only just been made, it contained much sulphuretted hydrogen. The following day we crossed several smaller valleys with a few palm-trees (but a larger grove adorned the Wadi Jemál), all belonging to one of our camel-drivers of the name of Bu Bakr. He also possessed here a magazine, built of bricks, and probably several centuries old, but entirely covered with sand, where he had deposited forty camel-loads of dates. They were of the kind called tefsirt, of very large size and exquisite taste, and were eagerly devoured by our people. After having refreshed ourselves for a moment, we went on, having just before us the very steepest ascent that occurs on the whole road. I was obliged to dismount from my beautiful Bu-Séfi in order to get him over it. This ridge being once behind us, we were told that all the “wár” was over; there were, however, still a few “difficult passes” before us. In the Wadi Gellah, which we next crossed, we found the footsteps of a flock of sheep and of a single camel, which latter animal finds plenty of food in this sandy district, and, at the shallow well in Wadi Uglah, is able to quench its thirst without the assistance of man. Thence we descended into Wadi Tigidéfa, where we encamped near a couple of palm-trees, the only ones in the wadi; a copious well of very good water was near them, overshadowed by a thick cluster of palm-bushes. It was altogether a very satisfactory camping-ground, except that it swarmed with camel-bugs, as such places in the desert generally do.

Wednesday, May 1st.With a general impulse of energy, we started this morning at a very early hour, twenty minutes past two o’clock in the morning, in order to get out of the sands, and to arrive in “the Wadi.” After seven hours’ constant march, we at length got a fine view of the steep cliffs which enclose the Wadi on the south side, and which contrasted marvellously with the white sand-hills in the foreground; for, stretching out in a horizontal dark line which faded away at each end, they exhibited an illusive picture of a lake spread out before us in the remote distance. The cool east wind, which had blown in the morning, and promised a fine day, changed, as is very common in these regions, towards noon into a hot south wind, and made us very uncomfortable and susceptible of the fatigue of a long march, particularly as the distance proved much greater than we had expected. Indeed it was not till nearly two o’clock in the afternoon, that Mr. Richardson and I, who were much in advance of the caravan, reached the border of the Wadi, and shortly afterwards the well Moghrás, at the foot of two tall palm-trees, where we found a woman with two neatly dressed children. They belonged to the Azkár-Tawárek, who, leaving their miserable abodes, migrate to these more fertile districts, where they build themselves light cottages of palm-branches, and indulge in a patriarchal life, breeding camels and rearing sheep. Near almost every village in the Wadi, outside the palm-grove, in the bare naked bottom of the valley, these poor people form a sort of suburb of frail huts; but nevertheless they keep up family ties with their brethren near Ghát, and respect in some degree the authority of the chief Nakhnúkhen. That this state of things might become very unfavourable to Fezzán in an outbreak of hostilities between the Turks and the Tawárek, is obvious; I shall have occasion to say more on this subject further on. A belt of saline incrustation, of more than half a mile in breadth, runs through the middle of the valley, forming a line of demarcation between the separate palm-groups and the continuous grove.

On reaching this grove we soon caught sight of the famous village Ugréfe, the residence of our camel-drivers, which was to them the grand point of attraction, and in truth the only cause of our taking this westerly route. It consisted of about thirty light and low dwellings made of clay and palm-branches, and lay near an open space where we were desired to encamp; but longing for shade, we went a little further on, and encamped near two splendid ethel-trees (Tamarix orientalis), the largest I ever saw before I reached Égeri. When the camels came up and the tents were pitched, the encampment proved most agreeable.

Early next morning I was again in motion, roving over the plantation, and was very much pleased with its general character. The corn, which was a fine crop, was just ripe and about to be harvested; and close to our camping-ground two negro slaves were employed in cutting it, while three or four negresses carried it away to the stores. The negroes were powerful young fellows; the women were rather ugly, excepting one, who had a very handsome figure, and by coquettish demeanour tried to make herself more attractive. All of them accompanied their work with singing and wanton movements, and gave distinct manifestations of the customs of this district, which is notorious for the familiarity of its female inhabitants with the large caravans of pilgrims who annually pass through the Wadi on their way to or from Mekka. The fields are watered from large holes or wells, which are sunk through layers of variegated marl.

Being anxious to visit Old Jerma, and to convince myself of its identity with the Garama of the Romans, I hired a miserable little donkey, and, accompanied by the stupid young son of Sbaeda, set out on an exploring expedition into the eastern part of the valley. Keeping in general along the southern border of the plantation, and having on my right the precipitous rocky cliff, of from 300 to 400 feet elevation, I went on slowly till I reached the south-west corner of Jerma kadím, fortified with a quadrangular tower built of clay, and exhibiting a very curious arrangement in its interior. The whole circumference of the town, which was deserted long ago, is about 5000 paces. Here, near the town, there are no Roman ruins whatever, but the remains of several large and strong towers built of clay are to be seen a little further on; and being unable to make out the sepulchre described by Dr. Oudney[54], I was obliged to go to Tawásh, the village inhabited by the Merabetín. It is divided into three distinct parts, a Tarki village, consisting of huts of palm-branches, an outer suburb of scattered dwellings built of clay, and a small quadrangular place of very regular shape, surrounded by earthen walls, and furnished with two gates, one on the east, and the other on the west side, and regular streets crossing at right angles. Having here obtained a guide from Háj Mohammed Sʿaídi, a wealthy man and the owner of almost all our camels, I started for the Roman monument, situated in a wide opening of the southern recess. I found it in tolerably good preservation, and without delay made a sketch of it, as it seemed to me to be an object of special interest as the southernmost relic of the Roman dominion. It is a remarkable fact, that several years before the beginning of our era the Romans should have penetrated as far as this place; and that their dominion here was not of a merely transitory nature, this monument seems clearly to show. It is only one story high, and seems never to have been loftier. This is evidently characteristic of the age in which it was built; and I am persuaded that it is not later than the time of Augustus. Those high steeple-tombs which I have described above, seem not to have come into fashion before the middle of the 2nd century after Christ.[55] The base measures 7 ft. 9½ in. on the west and east sides, and at least 7 ft. 4 in. on the other two sides, including a spacious sepulchral chamber or burial-room; but while the base forms almost a quadrangle, the sides of the principal structure are of very different dimensions, measuring not more than 5 ft. 8½ in. on the north and south, and 7 ft. on the west and east sides. It is adorned with pilasters of the Corinthian order. The whole monument is covered with Tefínagh or Berber writing, which was not only intelligible to me, but also to our young camel-driver ʿAli Karámra, whose family lives in this part of the wadi, in a homely little dwelling of palm-leaves. However, as the writing was very careless, and my time was fully taken up with sketching the more important subjects, I did not copy the inscriptions, which indeed are only names; but of course even names might contribute something towards elucidating the history of the country.

By a direct path I returned from this place to our encampment, and felt rather fatigued, having been in motion during all the heat of the day. The south wind still increased in the evening; and we could distinctly see that it was raining towards the longed-for region whither we were going, while we had nothing from it but clouds of sand. Overweg, meanwhile, had ascended in the morning the highest cliff of the sandstone rocks forming the southern border of the valley, and had found it to be 1605 feet high, or 413 feet above the ground at our encampment.

Friday, May 3rd.Having heard, the day before, in the village of the Merabetín, that Háj Mohammed, the owner of our camels, ordered the boy who was with me to tell Sbaeda, his father, that they should not start before this evening, I was not surprised at our camel-drivers not bringing the camels in the morning. It was almost four o’clock in the afternoon when Overweg and I at length pushed on, entering the extensive grove of New Jerma,—a miserable place, which being entirely shut in by the palm-grove, is almost deserted. The grove, however, exhibited a very interesting aspect, all the trees being furnished with a thick cluster of palm-bush at their roots, while the old dry leaves were left hanging down underneath the young fresh crown, and even lower down the stem, not being cut off so short as is customary near the coast. But picturesque as the state of the trees was, it did not argue much in favour of the industry of the inhabitants; for it is well-known to Eastern travellers that the palm-tree is most picturesque in its wildest state. Beyond the town the grove becomes thinner, and the ethel-tree predominates over the palm-tree; but there is much palm-bush.

We entered another grove, which stretches far northward into the valley, its produce being, according to our camel-drivers, entirely reserved for the poor. Having passed Tawásh, with its little grove, we entered the fine plantation of Brék, enlivened by the bleating of sheep and goats. Here, in the small fields where corn is cultivated, the ground is thickly incrusted with salt and soda. We at length encamped near the grove of Tewíwa, close to the village of the same name, and to the north side of the Merábet Sidi e’ Salám.

The next morning, while the camels were loading, I visited the interior of the village. The walls have given way in several places, and the whole made the impression of a half-deserted place; but the little kasbah, which is never wanting in any of these towns, was in tolerable condition. One of the inhabitants, on being asked why the village was so much decayed, told me that a torrent had destroyed a great portion of it nine years ago, in consequence of which the greater part of its population had dispersed abroad, only about twenty families now remaining. But this is the condition of nearly all the places in Fezzán; and it can be partially accounted for only by supposing that many of the male inhabitants go off to Negroland, to avoid being made soldiers. A very extensive grove belongs to Tewíwa; but the plain between the village and the rocks is rather open, only a few patches of corn-field being scattered thereabouts. Three vast and detached buttresses, which jut out from the cliffs into the plain, give a very picturesque appearance to the groves and villages which we passed on our route.

We were just proceeding in the best manner, when a halt was ordered, from very insufficient reasons, a little south from the village Tekertíba, where we were to pass the heat. Meanwhile I ascended a ridge of rocks which, a little further down, crossed the valley from the southern border. The ridge was a narrow, steep, wall-like cliff, which afforded a very interesting view of the end, or rather beginning, of the fertile Wadi, which was close at hand.

From the highest point of the ridge I descended northwards, crossing a small defile, which is formed between the two rocky buttresses to the north and south, the latter being the more considerable. Along it runs a path, connecting the two valleys. Here I obtained a view of the fresh green valley on the one side, and the destructive sand-hills on the other, and directed my steps to the plantation, where young people were busily engaged in drawing water from the large pond-like wells. The beams, by means of which the water is drawn up, require to be strongly constructed, the whole of the khattár having a height of from sixty to eighty feet. These draw-wells are always placed in pairs; and a couple of miserable asses, partners in suffering, do all the work. The young male labourers all wore straw-hats, and had an energetic appearance.

The northern border of the plantation is now menaced by the approach of the sand-hills, which have already overwhelmed the last range of palm-trees. There is a curious tradition in Tekertíba, that from the highest peak of the cliffs bordering the valley on the south side, a rivulet or brook, issuing from a spring, runs down into the valley underground. There were, it is related, originally several canals or stream-works leading down to this subterranean aqueduct; but they have been all filled up. The village itself, on the south border of the plantation, is tolerably large, but is inhabited by only forty families at the utmost, though it is the most populous place in the valley next to Ubári.

By the exertion of much energy, I at length succeeded in the afternoon in getting our little caravan again under way; and we left the Great Wadi through the defile, which appears to have been once defended by walls, and, having crossed some irregular depressed plains, encamped at seven o’clock in the evening in a wadi with a moderate supply of herbage. Starting on the following morning, at an early hour, we soon emerged into a more open level, beautifully adorned with fine talha-trees, and having with difficulty dragged on our camel-drivers, who shortly afterwards wanted to encamp in Wadi Resán, we entered a dreary wilderness, from which we did not emerge till we arrived at the plantation of Aghár, where we encamped.

Monday, May 6th.All the people were eager to reach to-day the first great station of our journey; but owing to the straying of some of the camels, we were unable to start quite as early as we wished. The country in general was very sterile, presenting only a few small date-groves, which we passed at greater or less distance, and at length, when we reached the plantation of Murzuk itself, we were far from finding in it that picturesque and refreshing character which we had admired in the palm-groves of the Wadi. These had formed a dense beautiful shade and fine groups; while the plantation of Múrzuk was scattered about in thin growth, so that it was scarcely possible to determine exactly where it began or where it ended. Thus we reached the wall of the town, built of a sort of clay glittering with saline incrustations; and going round the whole western and northern sides, which have no gate wide enough for a caravan, we halted on the eastern side of the town, not far from the camp of the pilgrims who were returning from Egypt to Marocco and Tawát, till Mr. Gagliuffi came out of the town, and brought us in. Mr. Richardson had arrived about an hour before us. I was lodged in a cool and airy room on the N.E. corner of Mr. Gagliuffi’s house, which had within the court a very pleasant half-covered hall. Mr. Gagliuffi treated us with all possible hospitality, and did all in his power to render our stay in the town agreeable.

CHAP. VII.

The appearance of Múrzuk is rather picturesque; but its extreme aridity is felt at once; and this feeling grows stronger on a prolonged residence.[56] Even in the plantation which surrounds it there are only a few favoured spots where, under the protection of a deeper shade of the date-trees, a few fruit-trees can be cultivated, such as pomegranates, figs, and peaches. Culinary vegetables, including onions, are extremely scarce; milk, except a little from the goats, is of course quite out of the question.

The town lies in a flat hollow, “Hófrah,” which is the appropriate native name of the district, but nevertheless at the considerable elevation of 1495 ft., surrounded by ridges of sand; and in this hollow lies scattered the plantation, without the least symmetry of arrangement or mark of order. In some places it forms a long narrow strip extending to a great distance, in others a detached grove, while on the south-east side of the town the desert approaches close to the walls in a deep inlet. Towards the east a little grove apart forms as it were an advanced post. The densest and finest part of the grove is towards the north, where also are the greatest number of gardens and fields in which wheat, barley, gédheb (or rather kédheb), and a few vegetables, are cultivated with much labour. In the same quarter also the greatest number of cottages are to be found, including huts (large and small) made of palm-branches,—the former consisting of several apartments and a small courtyard, the latter having generally only one room of very narrow dimensions.

In the midst of this plantation lies Múrzuk. It is situated so as not to face the cardinal points, but with a deviation from them of thirty degrees, the north side running N. 30° E., S. 30° W., and so on: it is less than two miles in circumference. The walls, built of clay, with round and pointed bastions, but partly in bad repair, have two gates, the largest on the east, and the other on the west side. There is only a very small gate on the north side, and there is none towards the south. This quarter of the town has been greatly contracted by ʿAbd el Jelíl, as the remains of the old wall of the time of Mukni clearly show; but the town is still much too large for its scanty population, which is said now to amount to 2800, and the greatest part of it, especially in the quarters most distant from the bazar, is thinly inhabited and half in ruins. The characteristic feature of the town, which shows that it has more points of relation with Negroland than with the lands of the Arabs, is the spacious road or “dendal” stretching out from the eastern gate as far as the castle, and making the principal part of the town more airy, but also infinitely more exposed to the heat.

The bazar, of course, is the most frequented part of the town. It lies nearly half-way between the east and west gates, but a little nearer to the former, and affords, with its halls of palm-stems, a very comfortable place for the sellers and buyers. The watch-house at the east end of the bazar, and almost opposite Mr. Gagliuffi’s house (from the terrace of which the accompanying view was taken), is ornamented with a portico of six columns, which adds to the neat appearance of this quarter of the town. The kásbah is the same as in Captain Lyon’s time, with its immense walls and small apartments; but the outer court has been much improved by the building of a barrack or kishlah, which now forms its northern portion. It is a large quadrangular building, with a spacious esplanade in the interior, around which are arranged the principal apartments. The building is said to be capable of containing 2000 men, though at present there are but 400 in the garrison, who are well lodged and fed.

The accompanying sketch of a ground-plan will give a tolerably exact idea of the whole character of the town.

With regard to commerce, the condition of Múrzuk is very different from that of Ghadámes. The latter is the residence of wealthy merchants, who embark all their capital in commercial enterprises, and bring home their own merchandise. But Múrzuk is rather the thoroughfare than the seat of a considerable commerce, the whole annual value of imports and exports amounting, in a round sum, to 100,000 Spanish dollars; and the place, therefore, is usually in great want of money, the foreign merchants, when they have sold their merchandise, carrying away its price in specie,—the Mejábera to Jálo, the Tébu to Bílma and Bórnu, the people of Tawát and Ghadámes to their respective homes. Few of the principal merchants of Múrzuk are natives of the place. The western or Sudán route is more favourable to commerce than the route to Bórnu. On the latter the Tawárek are always ready to furnish any number of camels to carry merchandise, and to guarantee their safety, while the road to Bórnu, which is the nearest for Múrzuk, is in such a precarious state, that the merchant who selects it must convey his merchandise on his own camels and at his own risk. As for the routes through Fezzán, the Hotmán, the Zwáya, and the Megésha are the general carriers of the merchandise; while, on the route to Sudán, the conveyance at present is wholly in the hands of the Tinýlkum.

As soon as Gagliuffi learned distinctly the plan of our expedition, he made an agreement with these people to take our things as far as Selúfiet; and they were anxious to be off. After much procrastination, they fixed upon the 6th of June for taking away the merchandise with which we had been provided here. We were to follow on the 12th; but the luggage not being ready at an early hour, our final departure was fixed for the 13th.