INTRODUCTION. xxxvu 



whatever; no bufh, no tree, nor verdure of any kind, ex- 

 cepting the fliort grafs that borders thefe countries before 

 you enter the moving fands of the defert. Doftor Shaw 

 never was at Gerba, and has taken this particular from 

 fome unfaithful ftory-teller. The Wargumma and Nolle,, 

 two great tribes of Arabs, are mailers of thefe defcrts. Sid! 

 Ifmain, whofe grandfather, the Bey of Tunis, had been de- 

 throned and ftrangled by the Algerines, and who was him- 

 felf then prifoner at Algiers, in great repute for valour, and 

 in great intimacy with me, did often ule to fay, that he ac- 

 counted his having pafled that defert on horfeback as the 

 hardieit of all his undertakings. 



About four days journey from Tripoli I met the Emir 

 Hadje conduding the caravan of pilgrims from Fez and 

 Sus in Morocco, all acrofs Africa to Mecca, that is, from the 

 Weftern Ocean, to the wefcern banks of the Red Sea in the 

 kingdom of Sennaar. He was a middle-aged man, uncle 

 to the prefent emperor, of a very uncomely, rtupid kind of 

 countenance. His caravan confifted of about 3000 men, 

 and, as his people faid, from 12,000 to 14,000 camels, part 

 loaded with merchandife, part with fkins of water, flour, 

 and other kinds of food, for the maintenance of the hadjees ; 

 they were a fcurvy, diforderly, unarmed pack, and when my 

 horfemen, tho' but fifteen in number, came up with them 

 in the grey of the morning, they mewed great figns of tre- 

 pidation, and were already flying in confufion. When 

 informed who they were, their fears ceafcd, and, after 

 the ufual manner of cowards, they became extremely info- 

 lent. 



At 



