82 
SKETCH OF FEZZAN. 
CHAPTER VI. 
The Oasis of Fezzan — Population — Ten Districts — Their Denomi- 
nation and Condition — Sockna — Honn — Worm of the Natron 
Lakes — Zoueelah — Mixed E,ace — Improvements in Mourzuk — 
Heavy Ottoman Yoke — Results of the Census — Amount of Re- 
venue — Military Force — Arab Cavaliers — Barracks — Method of 
Recruiting — Turkish System superior to French — Razzias — Po- 
pulation of Mourzuk — Annual Market — Articles of Traffic — 
Acting-Governor and his Coadjutors — Story of a faithless Woman 
— Transit Duties in Fezzan — Slave Trade — Sulphur in the Syrtis 
— Proposed Colony from Malta. 
The Pashalic of Fezzan, although it occupies a 
considerable space upon the map — advancing like 
a peninsula from the line of Barbary countries 
into the Sahara — is in reality a very insignificant 
province. From all that I can learn, its entire po- 
pulation does not exceed twenty-six thousand souls, 
scattered about in little oases over a vast extent of 
country. It is, in fact, a portion of the Sahara, in 
which fertile valleys occur a little more frequently 
than in the other portions. Immense deserts, some- 
times perfectly arid, but at others slightly sprinkled 
with herbage, separate these valleys ; and are pe- 
riodically traversed by caravans, great and small, 
which in the course of time have covered the country 
with a perfect network of tracks. 
