d the thieves. He told them that they were welcome to
proceed to Soudan at their own risk; but that if they wished for his
protection, they must pay him handsomely.

While the camp remained here, Dr Barth paid a visit to the town of
Agades, a place once of great importance, and still containing about
seven thousand inhabitants, a large number engaged as tradesmen or in
commerce. It is situated on the borders of the desert, surrounded by
lawless tribes. He performed his journey on the back of a bullock, with
his luggage behind him. He was received in a very friendly way by the
sultan, who told him that he had never before heard of the English--not
suspecting from whom the gunpowder he used was obtained. The doctor,
after placing the treaty before the sultan, said that the English wished
to enter into friendly relations with all the chiefs and great men of
the earth, in order to establish commercial intercourse with them. He
then told him that they had been deprived of nearly all the presents
they were bringing for himself and the other princes of Soudan. At this
he expressed the greatest indignation.

After spending two months at Agades, the doctor returned to Tintellust.
Here the expedition was detained six months waiting for an escort,
without which they could not proceed with any degree of safety to
Soudan. At length, on the 5th of December, the first body of the
salt-caravan, for which they had been waiting, arrived from Bilma, and
on the 12th of December, 1850, they began to move. The caravan looked
like a whole nation in motion: the men on camels or on foot; the women
on bullocks or asses, with all the necessaries of the little household,
as well as the houses themselves; a herd of cattle, another of
milk-goats, and a number of young camels running playfully alongside,
and sometimes getting between the regular lines of the laden animals.
The old chief walked ahead like a young man, leading his _mahary_ by the
nose-cord.

The ground was very rocky and rugged, and looked bare and desolate in
the extreme. Several high peaks, which characterise this volcanic
region, rose on either side.

The whole caravan consisted of about two thousand camels, of whom two
hundred were laden with salt. At night their camp presented many lively
and merry scenes, ranging as it did over a wide district illuminated by
large fires. Dancing was going forward and the drummers were vying with
each other, one especially rivallin