emotion amongst the people. The slave of one man had been caught with the wife of another, a free man, and the injured husband demanded justice. The sheikh condemned both the man and the woman to be hanged side by side : the owner of the slave, however, remonstrated, and said that the decision, as far as respected the woman, was just ; for she was always endeavouring to seduce his slave from his work, and that if he (thé sheikh) condemned his slave to death, the man, whose wife was the cause of it, ought to give him the value of his slave, as he was poor : this the husband objected to. “ Ah !” exclaimed the sheikh, “ how often is a man driven to his destruction by woman ; yet of all his happiness, she is the root, or the branch.” He himself paid the value of the slave to the owner, and the next morning the guilty pair were suspended outside the walls. August 8.—Last night aman brought a large bird, called oubara, a smaller species of which the bashaw’s sons hunt daily, in the neighbourhood of Tripoli, with their hawks : this was exceedingly large, weighing as much as twelve pounds ; and we gave him about two shillings for his present, in coarse cloth (gubbuk) ; and before breakfast this morning, he brought another still larger; but finding we had spoiled the market, for this I only gave him half as much. These birds are peculiar for the brilliancy, of their large eyes, which exceeds that of the gazelle *, and the flesh very much resembles our pheasants in flavour. In these southern climes, all matters of business, as well as pleasure, are transacted before the generality of people in England have well finished their night’s rest, and this morning I rode out by daylight to see the ceremony of a Bornou wedding. The lady was from Angornou ; and the bridegroom’s friends, to the number of twenty * The most beautiful Jewess in Tripoli is called Mesrouda-eyum el Oubara (Mesrouda, with the eye o f the Oubara). or thirty, all mounted and in their best clothes, went to give her welcome .-she was mounted on a bullock, whose back was covered with blue and white turkadees, and followed by four female slaves laden with straw baskets, wooden bowls, and earthen pots; while two other bullocks carried the rest of the dowry, which consisted of a certain number of turkadees and tobes. She was attended by hei mother, and five or six young ladies, who acted as bride’s maids. We galloped up to them repeatedly, which is the mode of salutation. The women cover their faces, and scream their thanks; the men, however, wheel their horses quickly, and return with their eyes cast to the ground, it being considered as extremely indelicate for them to look upon the bride. The lady, after this, proceeds to the bridegroom s house, with her mother, and there remains shut up until the evening, when she is handed over to her justly impatient lord: for the whole day he is obliged to parade the streets with a crowd after him, or sit on a raised seat, a la sultan, in his house, dressed in all the finery he can either borrow or buy; while the people crowd in upon him, blowing horns, beating drums, and crying “ Engouboron degah ! Alla Kabumho 1 Alla Kiara /” “ May you live for ever! God prosper you! Grey hairs to you!” to all which he makes no answer; but looks more foolish than one could suppose it possible for any man in so enviable a situation as that of a bridegroom to do. August 11.—The sheikh sent this morning to say, that, as we mentioned yesterday the state of our funds, any money that we stood in need of he would immediately furnish us with—that while we were under his protection, we should want for nothing: we, however, said with every feeling of gratitude, that, as we were not quite pennylefcs, we would wait a few days, until all the people arrived from Soudan. It is quite impossible to describe the value of his kindness to us on all occasions; and this last proof of his liberality to poor wan
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