some like Mussulmans, so who could tell ?” As we were all this time exposed to a burning sun, we were well inclined to compromise a little of our dignity, and determined on entering the town, which we did by the principal gate. The walls are well built, at least twenty feet high -, and the gate sufficiently wide to admit, with care, a loaded camel. You pass through the fsug, slave- market, a wide street, with houses on each side, three hundred yards in length. I t leads into an open space, in the centre of which the castle stands, surrounded by a second wall. In the inside of this inner wall, in the castle yard, are a few houses, originally built for the Mamelukes, and particular followers of the late sultan, when they were subject to the occasional attacks of the -Arabs. In one of these, the house occupied by the late Mr. Ritchie and Captain Lyon, arrangements were made for our reception. Almost as soon as the camels were unloaded, we paid our respects to the sultan : he received us with a great deal of affability and good nature, and made an impression in his favour, which, however, his subsequent conduct tended but little to strengthen. Our interview with the sultan of Mourzuk was any thing but encouraging : he told us that there was no intention, as we had been led to expect, of any expedition to proceed to the southward for some time to come ; that an army could only move in the spring of the year ; that the arrangements for moving a body of men through a country where every necessary must be carried on I camels, both for men and horses, were so numerous, that before the following spring it was scarcely possible to complete th em : that two camels were required for every man and horse, and one for every two men on foot. And as to our proceeding to Bornou, it would be necessary, had the bashaw instructed him to forward us, that we should be accompanied by an escort of two hundred men. He said he would read to us the bashaw’s letter, and we should seethe extent to which he could forward our wishes. The letter was then handed to his fighi, or secretary ; and we found that to the protection of the sultan of Fezzan were we intrusted, who was to charge himself with our safety, and so insure our being treated with respect and attention by all his subjects ; that we were to reside at Sebha, or Mourzuk, or where we chose in the kingdom of Fezzan, end to await his return from Tripoli. With this our audience ended, and we returned to our habitation. I t is quite impossible to express the disheartening feelings with which we left the castle. The heat was intense ; the thermometer at 97° *n the coolest spot in the house, during the middle of the day ; and the nights were scarcely
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