FOOTNOTES:
[1]In the Arabic, the word Friend is often employed, as in this passage, to express the same meaning as the English term servant.
[2]Ben Alli, a native of Morocco, who was lately in England, and of whom an account is given in the [Introduction to Chapter IV.] relates, that in proceeding from Fezzan to Gharien, on his way to Tripoli, he was met by several parties of Arabs, who were robbers by profession, and who rendered the rout so dangerous, that every individual in the caravan was obliged to carry a gun, a brace of pistols, and a yatagan or sabre. He describes the country as partially cultivated; and remarks, that it is furnished with few springs, and is wholly destitute of rivers.
By his account, the distance from Fezzan to Gharien is that of a journey of sixteen days.
He represents the rout from Gharien to Tripoli as a sandy desart, and its length as that of a seven days journey.
[3]The capital of Fezzan is situated on the banks of a small river, and is also supplied with water from a multitude of springs and wells.
Being formerly built with stone, it still retains the appellation of a Christian Town; and the medley which it presents to the eye, of the vast ruins of antient buildings, and of the humble cottages of earth and sand that form the dwellings of its present Arab inhabitants, is singularly grotesque and strange.
Ben Alli.
[4]In this estimate of distance, the rate of travelling is supposed to be twenty-two miles per day:—a conclusion that arises from the time that was employed by Mr. Lucas in travelling from Tripoli to Mesurata; for in that journey of 150 miles, seven days were consumed; and though the caravan was detained for a few hours on the sea coast, and was employed during four more in passing to and from the tents of the Arab, yet these losses were probably compensated by the extraordinary dispatch with which, in consequence of their fears, the greatest part of the journey was performed.