Chap. LXXXV. 
wa'di' ZEMZEM. 
449 
idiom of the Berber language*; but at the present 
moment, on account of the total interruption of the 
communication with the coast, the price of provisions 
was very high, and the natives scarcely knew what 
political course to pursue. There was especially a 
merchant of the name of Beshala, who showed me an 
extraordinary degree of kindness and attention. 
Having therefore waited until the arrival of the 
" rekds,'^ or courier, in order to obtain the most recent 
news, and having in consequence of their unfavourable 
tenor been induced to increase the wages of my camel 
drivers, whom I had hired previously, I at length got 
off on the 12th of August. Pursuing the track called 
Trik el Merhoma, which was never before traversed 
by a European, and, passing by the wells El Hammam, 
El Mardti, Ershidiye, and Gedafiye, and then by the 
narrow Wadi Ghirza (the place once the great object 
of African research for Lieutenant now Admiral 
Smyth), with its interesting ancient sepulchres in the 
form of obelisks, we reached Wadi Zemzem on the 
19th. Here there was a considerable encampment of 
Arabs, and some of the ringleaders of the revolu- 
tion residing here at the time, I found myself in a 
serious dilemma. But the English were too much 
respected by these tribes for them to oppose my pas- 
sage, although they told me plainly, that if they 
suspected that the English were opposed to the revo- 
lution, they would cut my throat, as well as that 
* Also in El Fok-ha, distant three days from Sokna, on the road 
to Ben-Ghazi, the same idiom is spoken. 
VOL. V. G G 
