ABSTRACT
MouNTEDonmycamel,pressingonthroughThe Desert,mythoughtsstilllagbehind,andasIturnoften tolookbackuponTheCityofMerchantsandMarabouts, itspalmsbeingonlynowvisibleinthedingyredofthe settingsun,Iendeavourtoformacorrectopinionof itssingularinhabitants.Iseeinthemthemixtureof thereligiousandcommercialcharacter,blendedina mostextraordinarymanneranddegree,forherethepossessionofwealthscarcelyinterfereswiththehighest stateofasecticdevotion.Toareligiousscrupulousness, whichisalarmedatadropofmedicinethatisprohibitedfallingupontheirclothes,theyaddthemost enterprisinganddeterminedspiritofcommercialenterprise,plungingintoTheDesert,oftenincompaniesof onlytwoorthree,wheninfestedwithbanditsandcut-
throats, their journies the meanwhile extending from the shores of the Mediterranean to the banks of the Niger, as low down to the Western Ooast as N oufec and Rabbah. But their resignation to the will of heaven is without a parallel. No murmur escapes them under the severest domestic affliction; whilst prayer is their daily bread. Besides five times a day, they never omit the extraordinary occasions. The aspirations of the older and retired men continue all the live-long day; this incense of the soul, rising before the altar of the Eternal, is a fire which is never extinguished in Ghadames ! Their commercial habits naturally beget caution, if not f~ar. In The Desert, though armed, they have no courage to fight. Their arms are their mysterious playthings. Their genius is pacific and to make peace-they are the peacemakers of The Desert-and they always travel under the intrepid escort of their warlike Touarick friends and neighbours. Intelligent, instructed and industrious, they are the greatest friends of civilization in North Africa and the Great Desert. But upon such a people, falls as a blast of lightning, rending and shivering the fairest palm of the oasis, the curse of Turkish rule.
