THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. £97 
majesty not only granted this permission, but con- 
tinued his salary, as Oriental interpreter, during 
his absence. This gentleman was then appointed 
to proceed over the desert of Sahara, from Tripoli 
to Fezzan, a kingdom in some measure dependent 
on Tripoli, with which the traders of Agadez, 
Tombuctoo, and other towns of the interior re- 
gions, had established a regular intercourse. What- 
ever intelligence concerning the interior regions 
he could obtain from the inhabitants of Fezzan, or 
the traders by whom they were visited, he was to 
transmit by the way of Tripoli, and afterwards he 
was to return by the way of Gambia, or the coast 
of Guinea. These arrangements were settled, 
and Mr Lucas having embarked at Marseilles on 
the 18th of October 1788, arrived on the &5th of 
the same month at Tripoli. Tripoli is built in 
such a low situation, as to be hardly visible at the 
distance of a mile ; but the date trees which spread 
like a forest behind the town, whence they emerge 
to cover the hills which bound the southern hori- 
zon, render the scene very interesting. Though 
the capital of an empire, once very powerful, it ex- 
hibits, through all its extent, the traces of a rapid 
decay ; for, though it is only four miles in circum- 
ference, these limits are too great for its present 
population. Through the Tripoline ambassador, 
who had formerly resided in England, he was in- 
troduced to the Bashaw, who eagerly inquired af- 
