230 Constantina. 



sanguinary and less frequent in his depredations, that trade must 

 have been solely confined to Constaniina, instead of being distributed 

 between that city and Tuggurt. We will endeavour to furnish the 

 reader with an idea towards the support of this proposition. 



Let him conceive a vast desert presenting a superficies of 2,400,000 

 square geographical miles, from the coast of Africa on the Mediter- 

 ranean to Tokrour, Mely, and Ouanquarah. This desert, which 

 receives the four different names of Nubia, Libya, Barqua, Ouaday, 

 and Saahrah, offers five distinct and direct lines of communication 

 for commercial intercourse between the north, the four states of 

 Barbary, and Lower Egypt ; the south, the kingdoms of Tokrour, 

 Bornou, Houssa, and Sackatou ; and the federations of Mely and 

 Ouanquarah, which of all central African provinces are the farthest 

 Advanced towards a state of comparative civilization. 



The desert is intersected with occasional rocks or mountains, 

 formed of a species of free-stone, and about sixty or eighty vegetative 

 islands called oases, varying in extent and in population. These 

 isolated spots offer a species of Elysian repose to the traveller 

 amongst that vast ocean and almost trackless waste of sand. 



The inhabitants of Tokrour exchange their produce with the 

 northern provinces, while those of the oases are obliged to purchase 

 grain, &c., at a high price, and are necessitated to pay in specie with 

 that money which the occasional visits of caravans to their fertile 

 spots distribute amongst them. When these means fail they dispose 

 of their camels, or hire themselves as labourers to acquit their debts 

 towards their mercantile neighbours. 



The first line of communication for the caravans across the desert 

 is from Cobbe to Cairo. The direction extends over the deserts of 

 Nubia and Libya, thence to Egypt by Assouan. We need scarcely 

 inform the reader that Cobbe is the capital of Darfour. 



The point of rendezvous for the caravans of the second line of com- 

 munication is at Borgoo. Thither flock the merchants of Ouaday 

 and Dursallah. From Borgoo the caravan passes on in a northerly 

 direction towards Augelah. This journey is undertaken six or seven 

 times in the course of the year. From Augelah the caravan turns to 

 the east and pursues its march to Alexandria. 



The third line of communication is from Bornou, the banks of the 

 Yeowry and lake Tchad. This caravan follows a direction entirely 

 northern as far as Morzouk, the capital of Fezzan: arrived at Mor- 

 zouk, the various divisions destined for the oases of the Tuats, the 

 centre of Saharah, and the republic of Ghadamis, separate to pursue 

 each its respective march. The grand caravan or main body continues 

 its northerly route to Sokna, where the whole break up into small parties 

 for Tripoli, Bengahzi, and the other sea-ports of the Gulf of Syrtis. 



The fourth line of commercial intercourse is from Houssa, Sacka- 

 too, Meli and Agdas (an oasis of the Tuaricks), whence the caravan 

 starts. On its arrival in the centre of the oasis of the Tuats, it is 

 joined by a detachment from Timbuctoo ; it then continues its march 

 towards Tunis, Tripoli, and other sea-ports in the neighbourhood, 

 passing through Mozab, Touzer, and Tuggurt, whence goods are 

 Exported to Constantina and Algiers. 



