* 
CULTURE OF THE OASIS. 69 
ing that I was at the outset of a long journey, and 
that the Pasha would certainly punish them if he 
ever heard that such a request had been made. 
As a solace for the disappointment, I gave the Sheikh 
three handkerchiefs and a pocket-knife. The Tu- 
aricks came in for a little soap, an article seemingly 
in universal request. 
El-Wady is a deep valley, lying like a moat 
between the elevated sandy desert and the plateau 
on which Mourzuk is situated. This plateau, at the 
distance of every few miles, juts out huge buttresses 
of perpendicular cliffs, which frown over the broken 
thread of green vegetation in the valley. Thick 
forests of pahns stretch at various points along the 
low plain, where are springs plentifully furnished by 
filtration from the high ground on either hand. The 
various kinds of oasian culture are pursued here with 
success. Wheat and barley are produced in consi- 
derable quantities ; and camels, asses, and goats find 
plentiful nourishment. The villages are numerous ; 
but some contain only few men, and none exceed 
forty-five. Takarteebah, the largest place, pays four 
hundred and ninety mahboubs per annum, cultivates 
four thousand palms, yielding a hundred and fifty 
kafasses of dates, thirty of wheat, and eight of bar- 
ley : it feeds eleven asses. I observed tliat all do- 
mestic animals, the goats especially, attain a very 
diminutive size in these oases, the nourishment for 
them being but scanty. 
In this oasis the palm-groves are much more 
