ady about to start for Ghat, and I took the opportunity to write to
that place to produce a proper impression of our views and intentions,
as I learned that a very erroneous one had gone abroad. The Sheikh and
his elders came to ask me to _lend_ them twelve mahboubs, to make up the
amount of tribute now being collected by the agents of the Pasha of
Mourzuk. Of course I did not consent, representing that I was at the
outset of a long journey, and that the Pasha would certainly punish them
if he ever heard that such a request had been made. As a solace for the
disappointment, I gave the Sheikh three handkerchiefs and a
pocket-knife. The Tuaricks came in for a little soap, an article
seemingly in universal request.

El-Wady is a deep valley, lying like a moat between the elevated sandy
desert and the plateau on which Mourzuk is situated. This plateau, at
the distance of every few miles, juts out huge buttresses of
perpendicular cliffs, which frown over the broken thread of green
vegetation in the valley. Thick forests of palms stretch at various
points along the low plain, where are springs plentifully furnished by
filtration from the high ground on either hand. The various kinds of
oasian culture are pursued here with success. Wheat and barley are
produced in considerable quantities; and camels, asses, and goats find
plentiful nourishment. The villages are numerous; but some contain only
few men, and none exceed forty-five. Takarteebah, the largest place,
pays four hundred and ninety mahboubs per annum, cultivates four
thousand palms, yielding a hundred and fifty kafasses of dates, thirty
of wheat, and eight of barley; it feeds eleven asses. I observed that
all domestic animals, the goats especially, attain a very diminutive
size in these oases, the nourishment for them being but scanty.

In this oasis the palm-groves are much more dense than in any other I
have seen. They almost merit the name of forests, both from their size
and wild luxuriant appearance. The Fezzanees pay little attention to
their culture, and when a tree falls it is frequently suffered to lie
for months, even though it block up the public road. In contrast to the
burning desert we had just traversed, these dense woods casting their
shadows on the white sand produced a most pleasing effect. We eagerly
wandered into the cool arcades, and watched with delight the doves and
hippoes, and other birds, as they fluttered to and fro amidst the
drooping leaves