io6 
M^' LUCAS'S 
The mitkal, the weight of which is eighty-one grains, and 
v/hich expreffes the value of 668;- TripoU piaflres, or los. ild. 
A fmgle grain therefore is equal in value to i^d. 
In the choice of the firft of thefe meafures, the xarobe, they 
feem to have been influenced by the difcovery, ifl, That four 
grains is the ufual weight of a hard and durable berry, which is 
called habbat ell goreth; and 2dly, That half that weight, tv.^o 
grains, is tlie weight of another and very beautiful berry, which is 
brought from Nigritia, and to which, from its fcarlet colour, and 
the black fliroke that ornaments one of its ends, they have given 
the name of eyne-deeka, or the cock's eye. Thefe berries 
are therefore employed as the common weights for gold duft in 
Fezzan ; for the xarobe and the mitkal have only an ideal ex- 
iftence. 
But 
* From the appearance of the fi'ppnf d berries, there is reafon to fiifpeU that they 
Idong to the clafs of leguminous plants, and are in fad tzvo fpeeies ofpeafe. 
