i82- 
MR- LUCAS'S 
At the latter end of Oftober, when the ardent heat of the 
Summer months is fiicceeded by the pleafant mildnefs and fet- 
tled ferenity of Autumn, the feveral caravans that are refpec- 
tively defthied for Tripoli and Bornou and Cafhna, and the 
Negro Nations beyond the Niger, take their departure from 
Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan. The parties which compofe 
them are generally fmall ; for unlefs information has been re- 
ceived that the road is infefted with robbers, ten or a dozen 
Merchants, attended by tv/ice as many camels, and by the ne- 
ceffary fervants, conftitute the ufual ftrength of the caravan ; but 
if an attack is apprehended, an alTociation of forty or fifty men^ 
with mulkets for their defence, is formed ; and as none of the 
Africans to the South of Fezzan (the people of Agadez and 
the nations on the coaft excepted) have yet poffelTed themfelves 
of fire-arms, the colle6ive force of fuch a number is fufEcient 
to infure their fafety. 
Their ftore of provifions ufually confiits of dates; of meal 
prepared from barley, or from Indian corn, and previoufly de- 
prived of all its moifture in an oven temperately heated ; and of 
mutton, which is cured for the purpofe, by the treble procefs of 
being faked and dried in the fun, and afterwards boiled in oil 
or 
