Romans in these regions was not of momentary duration, but continued for a length of time, as the different styles of the remains clearly prove. It may be presumed that no common soldier could pretend to the honor of such a tomb; and it is probable that these sepulchres were destined to contain the earthly remains of some of the consecutive governors or officers stationed at the neighboring place.

Like a solitary beacon of civilization, the monument rises over this sea-like level of desolation, which, stretching out to an immense distance south and west, appears not to have appalled the conquerors of the ancient world, who even here have left behind them, in lithographed proof," a reminiscence of a more elevated order of life than exists at present in these regions.

66

After a time the Hammáda was crossed, and they began to emerge from it.

After a winding course, the narrow ravine, shut in by steep, gloomy-looking cliffs, began to widen, and their direction varied less; but still the whole district retained a gloomy aspect, and the bottom of the valley was strewn with masses of black sandstone, while the country ahead of them lay concealed in a hazy atmosphere, which did not admit of an extensive view. Eager to reach the well, the caravan being scattered over a great extent of ground, the three travelers pushed on in advance, the south wind driving the sand, which lay in narrow strips along the pebbly ground, into their faces. They cherished the hope of finding a cool little grove, or at least some shade, where they might recline at ease after their fatiguing march; but, to their great disappointment, the sand became deeper, and nothing was to be seen but small stunted palm-bushes. But even these ceased near the well, which was dug in the midst of the sandy waste, and had once been protected by an oval-shaped building, of which nothing but crumbling ruins remained.

'It was a cheerless encampment after so fatiguing a march; but there was at least no more fear of scarcity of water, for the well had an abundant supply. No name could be more appropriate to this place than el Hasy (the well). There is no need of any discriminating surname; it is "the Well"-the well where the traveler who has successfully

ROMAN SEPULCHRE AT TATONIYE

crossed the Hammáda may be sure to quench his own thirst and that of his animals. But it is not a cheerful resting-place, though it is the great watering-place on this desert road, as he has to cross the fearful "burning plain" of the Hammáda before he reaches the spot. There are several wells hereabouts, which might easily supply with water the largest caravan in an hour's time; for the water is always bubbling up, and keeps the same level.

The black population and dominions

of Fezzan commence at this point, which is marked by the Wady Hæran, a plain of drifting sand strewed with great masses of dark sandstone, followed by dreary regions of the same material, interspersed with drifting yellow sand-hills and valleys with batumtrees, and which extended as far as to Wady e Shati, where it was succeeded by a region of sands with palms and herbage.

In the midst of this latter region were the great wadys Gharbi and E Sherki, with numerous permanent villages and natron lakes in the country beyond, as also remains of Christian chapels. A plain, pretty well wooded with sidr-trees, ascends gently from these valleys to the table-land of Múrzuk, which is for the most part a stony level plain without vegetation, intersected by narrow valleys, with talha-trees, and with some herbage and even corn-fields, which are again succeeded by date-groves as the capital of Fezzan is approached. Múrzuk is rather the thoroughfare than the seat of a considerable commerce, the whole annual value of imports and

exports amounting, in a round sum, to 100,000 Spanish dollars; and the place, therefore, is usually in great want of money, the foreign merchants, when they have sold their merchandise, carrying away its price in specie-the Mejabera to Jálo, the Tébu to Bílma and Bórnu, the people of Tawát and Ghadámes to their respective homes.

Few of the principal merchants of Múrzuk are natives of the place. The western or Sudán route is more favorable to commerce than the route to Bórnu. On the latter the Tawárek are always ready to furnish any number of camels to carry merchandise, and to guarantee their safety, while the road to Bórnu, which is the nearest for Múrzuk, is in such a precarious state, that the merchant who selects it must convey his merchandise on his own camels and at his own risk. The expedition left Múrzuk on the 13th of June, taking a direction a little to the north of west, and passing a village with walls and towers, whence they followed, for a distance of upwards of fifty miles, the wady, or valley, of Berjush, refreshed

by talha-trees and herbage, with a vast naked plain to the north, and a high range of sand-hills to the south.

After a little delay at Elawen, owing to the refractoriness of the escort and camel-drivers, the expedition continued its route, passing some remarkable sculptures in Wady Telisaghe, which Barth attributes to the olden inhabitants who had relations with the Carthaginians, and on the 8th of July, the Pass of Ralle, where the western table-land of Múrzuk broke up into perpendicular cliffs of fantastic shape several hundred feet high. From this their road to Ghat took a very circuitous direction, owing to the mountainous character of the country, passing first the arid and stony plain of Taita, then the valley of Tanessuf, with Mount Idinen, or Kasr Jenin, "the palace of the demons," 2,400 feet in elevation to the right; and the great Akakus range to the left, which flanks with its castle-like and battlemented crags both the valley of Tanessuf and that of Ighelfannis, in which is situated the chief city of the Azkar, a military confederacy of the Tawarek.

Soon after leaving Ghat, the expedition entered upon the highlands of the Azkar Tawarek, an elevated wilderness of rocks of fantastic shapes, with vegetation and permanent pools of water in -20

VOL. X.

the ravines, and they descended thence by what Barth designates as the "terrific ravine" of Egery, and of which he gives a good drawing, where the graniti rocks succeeded to the broken-up outlying, sedimentary formations.

This mountain-region was succeeded by extensive, inhospitable, waterless plains, with granite peaks rising up, and scarcely any herbage; next by the mountain region of Anahef, abounding in wild oxen and gazelles; then by more dismal and dreary gravelly plains, and barren, open deserts, all, however, intersected with occasional wadys, with talhas, and herbage, a few ethels and other plants, till, at Jínninau, a beautiful valley, with a forest of fine trees and pastures of tropical appearance, led the way to the mountain region of Fadeough, inhabited by the warlike border tribes of the Efade and Kelfade, who divide the country of the Kelowi Tawarek from that of the Air, or Asben.

Passing the northern limit of the dompalm, in latitude 19 deg., and leaving the mountain group of Timge (5,000 feet) to the left, the expedition pushed on toward Tintéllust.

But one day the sensations of the guides and camel-drivers had been uneasy from the moment of encamping; and Mr. Richardson, at the suggestion

of A'nnur, had, on the preceding day, sent men in advance, in order to bring to us the chief of Fade-ang. This person was represented as a man of great authority in this lawless country, and able to protect the party against freebooting parties. But one of the men sent was a great rascal himself, who would do all in his power to increase the difficulties, in order to profit by the confusion.

The chief was accordingly reported as being absent; and a man who was said to be his brother was to take his place. This person made his appearance, accompanied by some people from the village; but it became immediately apparent, that he had no authority whatever, and one of the Imghád of Tádomat, who had stuck to the party, in order to show us what respect he had for this man, struck him repeatedly with his spear upon the shoulder. Among the companions of their new protector was a Taleb, distinguished by his talkativeness, and a certain degree of arrogance, who made himself ridiculous by trying to convince the party of his immense learning.

Overweg and Barth seated themselves in the shade of a talha-tree, at a little distance from their tent, and had soon a whole circle of visitors around them, who, in the beginning, behaved with

some modesty and discretion, but gradually became rather troublesome. Barth gave them some small presents, such as scissors, knives, mirrors, and needles, with which they expressed themselves well pleased. Presently came, also, several women, one with the characteristic features called in Temáshight "tebúllodén," which may be translated by the words of Leo, "le parti di dietro pienissime e grasse," and another younger one mounted upon a donkey.

The whole character of these people appeared very degraded. They were totally devoid of the noble and manly appearance which the most careless observer cannot fail to admire even in a common Tarki freebooter; and the relation between the sexes appeared in a worse light than one would expect in such a situation as this. However, we have ample testimony in ancient Arabian writers, that licentious manners have always prevailed among the Berber tribes on the frontier of the desert; and Barth found the same habits existing among the tribe of the Tagáma, while not only A'gades, but even the little village of Tintéllust, was not without its courtesans. He remarks that this is a very disheartening phenomenon to observe in so small a community, and in a locality where nature would seem