CONDITION OF AGHADEZ. 
65 
only acted. Very little resistance was made, and I 
hear of only one man being killed. The fellow who 
stole Earth's mahareewas compelled to restore him. 
Dr. Barth, however, though well-pleased on the 
whole with his reception, did not venture to present 
the treaty. He obtained some letters of recommend- 
ation to Soudan. Many of the distinguished persons 
of Aghadez visited Dr. Barth during his stay ; and 
altogether his reception was satisfactory. 
I have already mentioned that the Sultan of 
Aghadez, though elected and controlled by a kind 
of aristocracy of sheikhs of various tribes, is invested 
with the power of life and death. He is said to have 
a frightful dungeon, into which guilty persons are 
thrown upon swords sticking upright in the ground. 
In his warlike expeditions he is regarded, however, 
as chief of some tribes only. The Kailouees have a 
sultan of their own, and encamp apart. The Sakon- 
teroua, or Sheikh of Aghadez, exercises considerable 
influence. He is obliged annually to accompany the 
great salt-caravan, which sometimes numbers ten 
thousand camels — Saharan statistics — to Sakkatou. 
The town of Aghadez was formerly divided into 
a variety of quarters, the names of which still re- 
main, although the space they occupied — three 
miles in circuit — is now principally filled with ruins. 
With the exception of five or six rubbish -hills, the 
whole space is level. The houses are spacious, with 
large rooms and court-yards. They are of mud, 
whitewashed, and furnished with flat terraces. Doves, 
VOL. II. F 
