184 INTERIOR COUNTRIES OF AFRICA. 



part, cultivate the grounds : the Moors, like the Arabians, frond whom 

 they are descended, are roving shepherds, or travelling merchants, 

 Who seem, from the earliest times, to have overspread the great Afri- 

 can desert and the Oases, or fertile islands thinly scattered through 

 that sandy ocean. Hence they extended their arms southwards, and 

 made themselves masters of several of the negro kingdoms on the 

 Niger; so that their dominions form a narrow belt running from west 

 to east, on the skirts of the desert, from the coasts of the Atlantic to 

 the mountains of Abyssinia. 



We shall now give some account of the travels of Mr. Horneman, 

 whom we have mentioned above, and who in like manner travelled un- 

 der the directions and patronage of the African society. 



On the 6th of September, 1798, Mr. Horneman set out from Cairo 

 with the Fezzan caravan, for the purpose of making discoveries in the 

 interior of Africa. The caravan proceeded by Ummesogier, a small 

 village containing but few inhabitants, to the Oases of Siwah, which 

 is only twenty hours journey from Ummesogier. At Siwah, Mr. Horne- 

 man saw the ruins which had before been discovered by Mr. Browne, 

 whose observations he confirms. From Siwah the caravan proceed- 

 ed by Augila, a town known to Herodotus, who places it at ten days 

 journey from the city of the Ammonians, to Temissa, in the territory 

 of Fezzan ; thence to Zuila, in the same territory ; and thence to 

 Mourzook, the capital, where it arrived on the 17th of November. 



The cultivated part of the kingdom of Fezzan, according to Mr. 

 Horneman, is about 300 English miles in length from north to southj 

 and 200 miles from east to west ; but the mountainous region of Kar- 

 utsch, to the east, and other districts to the south and west, are reck- 

 oned within its territory. The borderers on the north are Arabs, de- 

 pendent, though rather nominally than really, on Tripoli. To the east, 

 the country is bounded by the mountains called the black and the white 

 Haratsch, and by deserts. To the south and south-east is the coun- 

 try of the Tibboes ; to the south-west that of the wandering Tuaricks; 

 and to the west are Arabs. The climate is at no season temperate 

 or agreeable. During the summer the heat is intense ; and when the 

 wind blows from the south is scarcely supportable even by the natives. 

 The winter would be moderate were it not that a bleak and penetra- 

 ting north wind frequently prevails. It rains but seldom, and then but 

 little in quantity ; but violent winds are frequent. Dates may be con- 

 sidered as the natural and staple produce of the country ; some senna 

 is likewise grown in the western parts, and the climate and soil suit 

 wlreat and barley ; but from the indolence of the people, their unac- 

 quaintance with the arts of agriculture, and the oppressions of the 

 government, there is not sufficient corn grown for the consumption 

 of the inhabitants, who rely for subsistence on importations from the 

 Arab countries to the north. There are but few horses or cattle in. 

 Fezzan ; the principal domestic animal is the goat. Camels are ex- 

 tremely dear, and only kept by the principal persons, and more wealthy 

 merchants. 



The population of the country is estimated by Mr Horneman at 70 

 or 75,000 souls. He says it contains a hundred and one towns and 

 villages, the names of the principal of which next in order to Mour- 

 zook, the capital, and imperial residence, are Sockna, Sibba, Hun, 

 and Wadon, to the north j. Gatron to the south ; Yerma to the west ; 

 and Zuila to the east. 



