g date-palms,
and paying contributions to Mourzuk. Edree, itself, is drained of four
hundred mahboubs per annum.

_27th._--I rose at sunrise and went to see the ancient dwellings of
Edree, where the people lived underground: they are excavations out of
the rock, some fifty yards from the surface beneath the modern town. The
entrances are choked with sand, and they are not entered by the people,
who say "They are the abodes of serpents." At present, there is nothing
remarkable about them. Probably they were originally natural caves,
which were enlarged and arranged as dwellings.

On returning to the encampment, I found that the Kaid, or commander of
the troops of the Shaty district, had arrived with some Arab cavaliers:
he has in all thirty horsemen. Our visitors offered to "play powder" in
order to do us honour; but were compelled to beg us to supply the
ammunition. It was a very animating scene, after the dreary journey over
the Fezzanee deserts. A dozen mounted cavaliers dashed to and fro,
shaking the earth, scouting and firing from time to time. Everybody
enjoyed it; even the half-naked, dirty, brown-black ladies of the town,
stopped with their water-jugs, and looked on with satisfaction. The Kaid
was the best man of his men; but Yusuf afterwards dressed and beat the
victor, riding with great dexterity, and attracting the spontaneous
applause of all the spectators. The Kaid trembled whilst contending with
Yusuf, who was set down as a marabout in consequence by our chaouch.

I gave the Kaid, who was a mild and respectful man, a handkerchief, a
little bit of writing-paper, and some soap, and sent him off to his
station, whence he had come on purpose to visit us. Three handkerchiefs
formed also an appropriate present to the Sheikhs of Edree.

Yusuf has been reading an Arabic book, which I at first thought was some
commentary on the Koran; but to-day I was undeceived. He related what he
read; it reminded me of Gulliver's Travels. A tall man walks through the
sea, cooks fish in the sun, and destroys a whole town, whose inhabitants
had insulted him, by the same means that our comparative giant saved the
palace of Lilliput from conflagration.

This evening it was announced as an event that the Zintanah, a servant
of the Germans, was going to Tripoli, having resolved to return home.
Some said one thing about him, some another; but most, "He's afraid of
the fever of Mourzuk." The fellow came afterwards to me, asking for