unnoticed by the
inhabitants, who, with the aid of the telescope, could be seen pointing
upward at the ship in evident consternation. Then on over the chain of
hills beyond the town, and they once more found themselves with the sea
beneath them, the ship's course causing her to just skirt the Gulf of
Hammamet, whilst they obtained a splendid view of Lake Kairwan and the
three streams which it absorbs. Then past Capes Dimas and Kadijah,
across the Gulf of Cabes, and so on to Tripoli, which was reached and
passed soon after the party had risen from breakfast. At this point the
Mediterranean was finally left behind, and the ship's speed was shortly
afterwards reduced to a rate of about fifteen knots through the air; her
altitude being also decreased to about one thousand feet above the
ground level.

The course was now altered to about south by west (true), and the
travellers passed slowly over the Fezzan country, the borders of the
Libyan Desert, the Soudan, and Dar Zaleh; the prospect beneath and
around them varying with every hour of their progress, from the most
fertile and highly cultivated district, dotted here and there with
straggling villages, to the most sterile and sandy wastes. They saw but
little game during this portion of their journey, and only descended to
the ground at night, when the vessel was secured by her four grip-
anchors during the hours which her crew devoted to rest.

This uneventful state of affairs continued until they arrived in ten
degrees of north latitude and twenty degrees of east longitude, when
they found themselves fairly beyond the limits of even the most
rudimentary civilisation, and in a country of alternating wooded hill
and grassy, well-watered plain, which had all the appearance of a very
promising hunting district. The country was very thinly populated, the
native villages being in some cases as much as fifty or sixty miles
apart, whilst in no instance were two villages found within a shorter
distance than twenty miles. The inhabitants were, as far as could be
seen, fine stalwart specimens of the negro race, evidently skilled in
the chase and, presumably, also in all the arts of savage warfare; but
it was not very easy to form a reliable opinion upon their habits and
mode of life, as whenever the _Flying Fish_ appeared upon the scene they
invariably took to their heels with yells of terror and sought shelter
in the thickest covert they could find.

As the travellers pe