The Sheep And Goats Are Driven From The Mountains Near Benioleed, A Distance Of Four Hundred Miles; They Pass Over One Desert, Which, At Their Rate Of Travelling, Occupies Five Days, Without Food Or Water.

Numbers therefore die, which in course raises the price of the survivors, They are valued at three or four dollars each, when they arrive, being quite skeletons, and are as high as ten and twelve, when fatted.

Bread is badly made, and is baked in ovens formed of clay in holes in the earth, and heated by burning wood; the loaves, or rather flat cakes are struck into the side, and are thus baked by the heat which rises from the embers. Butter is brought in goat-skins from the Syrtis, and is very dear. Tobacco is very generally chewed by the women, as well as by the men. They use it with the trona (soda). Smoking is the amusement of a great man, rather than of the lower class, the mild tobacco being very dear, and pipes not easily procured.

The revenues of the sultan of Fezzan arise from slaves, merchandise, and dates. For every slave, great or small, he receives, on their entering his kingdom, two Spanish dollars; in some years the number of slaves amount to 4,000; for a camel's load of oil or butter, seven dollars; for a load of beads, copper, or hardware, four dollars; and of clothing, three dollars. All Arabs, who buy dates pay a dollar duty on each load, equal at times to the price of the article, before they are allowed to remove it. Above 3,000 loads are sold to them annually. Date trees, except those of the kadi and mamlukes, are taxed at the rate of one dollar for every two hundred; by this duty, in the neighbourhood of Mourzouk, or more properly in the few immediately neighbouring villages, the sultan receives yearly 10,000 dollars. Of all sheep or goats, he is entitled to a fifth. On the sale of every slave, he has, in addition to the head-money, a dollar and a half, which, at the rate of 4,000, gives another 6,000 dollars. The captured slaves are sold by auction, at which the sultan's brokers attend, bidding high only for the finest. The owner bids against them until he has an offer equal to what he considers as the value of the slave; he has then three-fourths of the money paid to him, while one-fourth is paid by the purchaser to the sultan. Should the owner not wish to part with his slaves, he buys them in, and the sum which he last names, is considered as the price, from which he has to pay the sultan's share. The trees, which are his private property, produce about 6,000 camel loads of dates, each load 400 pounds weight, and which may be estimated at 18,000 dollars. Every garden pays a tenth of the corn produced.

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