96 
Mi?. LUCAS'S 
make dots as they reckon ; and if they find themfelves wrong, 
they fmooth the fpot again, and repeat the calculation. All this 
time the by-flanders, though they have nothing to do with the 
bufinefs, are as eager to put in their word, and to corre£t mis- 
takes, as if the affair was their own. Even in common con- 
verfation, if they fit without doors, they level the fand in order 
to go on with their difcourfe, and at every fentence mark it with 
their fingers. 
An extenfive plain, encompaffed by m'ountains, the irregular 
circle of which is interrupted on the Weft, where it feems to 
communicate with the Defart, compofes the Kingdom of Fez- 
zan. To the influence of the neighbouring heights it may pof- 
fibly be owing, that in Fezzan, as in the Upper Egypt, the 
fituation of which is extremely fimilar, no rain is ever known 
to fall 
A light fand conftitutes the general foil ; and fand hills of va- 
rious forms are feen in particular diftri£ls ; but though the cha- 
ra6ler of the furface and the drynefs of the Heavens may feem 
to announce an eternal fterility, yet the fprings are fo abun- 
dant, and fo ample a ftore of fubterraneous water is fupplied by 
the adjacent heights, that few regions in the North of Africa 
exhibit 
