rata of stones: though the surface is generally sand,
yet at the depth of eight or ten inches, they meet with a yellow or
reddish earth; and about four feet deeper, with another kind of
earth of various colours, but most commonly of a brownish cast;
7 about five or six feet under this they find water, which springs
up very slowly, and at the bottom of this water you meet with a
light sand. Sometimes the water is sweetish, frequently brackish,
and generally warm. This last desert is about twenty days' journey,
and is a vast plain without any mountains. They meet with no Arabs
in this part, but the country on the right and left of their route,
at the distance of from three to eight days' journey, is inhabited
by Arabs, who are governed by their own (_sheiks_) chiefs, and are
perfectly independent.

[Footnote 15: El Wah. For a full explanation of this term, see
Jackson's Account of the Empire of Marocco, 3d edition, p.
283.]

[Footnote 16: _Sederah_, thorny shrubs of all kinds are so
called.]

From Akka to Timbuctoo, a journey of forty-three days, they meet
with no trees, except the _sederah_, no rivers, towns, or huts.
From Draha, which is a country abounding in camels, to Timbuctoo,
the charge per camel is from sixteen to twenty-one ducats.[17] That
so long a journey is performed at so small[18] an expense, is owing
to the abundance of camels in Draha. The caravan generally contains
from 300 to 400 men, of whom a great part prefer walking to the
uneasy motion of the camels.

[Footnote 17: From Fas to Tafilelt, 20 days, for 11 ducats per
camel.

Tafilelt to Draha, 6 do. 6 do. do.

Draha to Timbuctoo, 48 do. 18-1/2 do. do.

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69 days, for 35-1/2 ducats per camel
load, which is about the rate of one farthing per quintal per
mile. This does not include the expense of camels for the
conveyance of merchants, servants, &c. or of provisions or
water, but merely of those carrying goods. A full account of
these caravans, and their mode of crossing the Sahara, will be
found in Jackson's Marocco, ch. 13.]

[Footnote 18: The expense is now (A.C. 1818) smaller, as the