steemed of the
finest quality.

Walked about the town; several of the inhabitants are very wealthy. The
dead saints are, however, here, and perhaps everywhere else in Tunis,
more decently lodged, and their marabets are real "whitewashed
sepulchres." They make many burnouses at Toser, and every house presents
the industrious sight of the needle or shuttle quickly moving. We tasted
the leghma, or "tears of the date," for the first time, and rather liked
it. On going to shoot doves, we, to our astonishment, put up a snipe.
The weather was very hot; went to shoot doves in the cool of the
evening. The Bey administers justice, morning and evening, whilst in the
Jereed. An Arab made a present of a fine young ostrich to the Bey, which
his Highness, after his arrival in Tunis, sent to R. The great man here
is the Sheikh Tahid, who was imprisoned for not having the tribute ready
for the Bey. The tax imposed is equivalent to two bunches for each
date-tree. The Sheikh has to collect them, paying a certain yearly sum
when the Bey arrives, a species of farming-out. It was said that he is
very rich, and could well find the money. The dates are almost the only
food here, and the streets are literally gravelled with their stones.
Santa Maria again returned his horse to the Bey, and got another in its
stead. He is certainly a man of _delicate_ feeling. This gentleman
carried his impudence so far that he even threatened some of the Bey's
officers with the supreme wrath of the French Government, unless they
attended better to his orders. A new Sheikh was installed, a good thing
for the Bey's officers, as many of them got presents on the occasion.

We blessed our stars that a roof was over our heads to shield us from
the burning sun. We blew an ostrich-egg, had the contents cooked, and
found it very good eating. They are sold for fourpence each, and it is
pretended that one makes an ample meal for twelve persons. We are
supplied with leghma every morning; it tastes not unlike cocoa-nut milk,
but with more body and flavour. R. very unwell, attributed it to his
taking copious draughts of the leghma. Rode out of an evening; there was
a large encampment of Arabs outside the town, thoroughly sun-burnt,
hardy-looking fellows, some of them as black as negroes. Many people in
Toser have sore eyes, and several with the loss of one eye, or nearly
so; opthalmia, indeed, is the most prevalent disease in all Barbary. The
neighbourhood of the Desert, wh