102 
THE TIBESTY COUNTRY BILMA. 
in sufficient quantities to irrigate the fields of 
ghaseb, wheat, and barley. Hain is abundant some 
years, but fails in others ; torrents are continually 
descending from the mountains : one stream flows 
through a space of two days' journey. If these ac- 
counts be correct, the country must be one of the 
most interesting in Africa. Tliey say, that on account 
the height of the mountains some of the inhabitants 
do not see the moon for fifteen days together. A 
Sultan rul-es paternally in this out-of-the-w^ay coun- 
try, where the Mohammedan religion reigns para- 
mount. My informant made me pay three Tu- 
nisian piastres and two common handkerchiefs for a 
vocabulary of the language of the Tibboos of 
Tibesty. A visit to this singular oasis might re- 
pay a hardy traveller ; but the people of the coun- 
try have a faithless character, and it would be 
dangerous to trust to their promises of protection. 
The Tibesty Tibboos must not be confounded 
with the Tibboos of the salt-mines of Bilma, who 
have recently made their submission to the Porte. 
There is little connexion between the people, al- 
though they speak a similar language. The Bilma 
Tibboos lie in the direct route to Bornou, and were 
fully studied by the Denham and Clapperton 
expedition. 
I5th. — Continue to prepare papers to send 
home. Report the fact, that the functionaries of 
Mourzuk trade in slaves. 
16fh.~I had lent Mustapha a sword ; but, after 
keeping it a night, he was obliged to return it, send- 
