justice, we afterwards found it would have been almost impossible for the camels to have gone the way we wished. After passing the base of some high sand hills, we came to a stony pass, of gentle descent, covered with loose fragments of quartz rock, a yellowish feltspar, and iron ore, very similar to the rocks in the Sebah district. From this place the town opened to our view. It is erected on a hill about three hundred feet high. This stands in the middle of the valley nearly, and has the appearance, at a distance, of a hill studded over with basaltic columns. I had no idea the town was built on the hill, and, consequently, that the deception was produced by it. The approach from this side is over large plains of salt, and through fields of gomah and date groves. The different divisions of the fields did not appear to us so neat as near other towns ; but that may be owing to the grain having mostly been cut and all in. There is no necessity here for wells, as there are a number of springs near the surface that open into large basins, from which channels are cut to the different fields. Temperature of the water 30 cent. ; but the basins are so exposed, and so large, that the temperature of the water is influenced by the soil and sun’s rays. The soil is dark, and mixed with a large quantity of salt. In: the , salt plain here there are a number of small conical hills, the base composed of pipeclay, above that of a fine grained yellow sandstone, and the top a conglomerate, the principal ingredient of which is ironstone. The most of the inhabitants soon visited us, and all appeared pleased at our arrival. The kadi of the two neighbouring towns paid us many compliments, and pressed us hard to spend a few days in his towns. We could not take advantage of his offer, which was no doubt of a selfish nature; for I had not conversed long with him before he began to beg a shirt. I told him mine could be of no use to him, as it was very different from those of the country. On that he asked for a dollar to buy one, which I took care to refuse ; and said to him, that I only gave presents of money to the poor. The people made numerous urgent demands for medicines ; and, in a very short time, our large tent was surrounded with sick r the female part formed the majority. Some beautiful faces and forms were clothed in rags : the plaited hair and necks o f these even were loaded with ornaments. The physiognomy of the women, as well as of the men, is of two kinds,—that of the Bedouin Arab and Fezzaneer, with mixtures also which it would puzzle a physiognomist to discover and describe. The females are rather under the middle stature, stoutly built, and possess considerable vivacity and liveliness : complexion of those not much exposed to the sun of a dirty white. Thursday, July 4.—Numbers of patients greatly augmented, and several of the applicants brought small presents for medicines, such as a bowl of libau. I was also applied to in a new capacity—that of a charm writer. A man came and offered me two fowls if I would give him a charm for a disease of the belly; but I was obliged to decline the office of charm writer, and confine myself to cure diseases by medicine. A buxom widow applied for medicine to get her a husband. I t is not good to pretend ignorance: I therefore told her I had no such medicine along with me. The same worthy personage took my friend Clapperton for an old man—from his light coloured beard and mustachios— to my great amusement, and his chagrin. He had prided himself on the strength and bushiness of his beard, and was not a little hurt that light colour should be taken as a mark of old age. None of them had ever seen a light coloured beard before, and all the old men dye their grey beards with henna, which gives them a colour approaching that of my friend. We went a little before sunset to visit the town. The houses are of mud, and built on the sides of the hill. They appear as if one was pulled on another. The passages or streets between them are narrow, and, in two or three instances, excavations through the rock. The exposed rocks denote the same composition as the insulated hills on the salt plain. The ascent was steep in some places, and we had to pass through the mosque before we arrived at the highest portion. From this we had a fine view of wadey Shiati in every direction. The wadey runs nearly east and west: in the former direction it is well inhabited as far as Oml’abeed : this is the westernmost town; and although, from this position, the soil appears favourable, there are no inhabitants between this and Ghadamis. A range of hills forms the northern boundary : these run as far as Ghadamis, and end easterly, in the hills about Oml’abeed. A low range forms the southern boundary; and'between them and the wadey Ghrurbi all is sand. Many houses are in ruins, and many more are approaching to that state. Still it is called the new town, although its appearance little entitles it to that appellation ; but the ancient inhabitants lived in excavations in the rocks, the remains of which are very distinct. We saw numerous recesses, but thought they were produced by the present race digging for pipe-clay, and the natural
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