72 
TRAVELS IN NORTHERN AFRICA. CHAP. II. 
they rushed forward, and surrounded the Sultan, to kiss his hands. 
After these ceremonies, they divided themselves into small parties, 
and expended a great deal of powder in sham fights. 
We arrived at 10 in the town of Sockna, Ud, and were directed 
to the house which had been prepared for us. In the evening our 
camels also arrived ; and now we arrayed ourselves in our most 
costly dresses, and went to pay our respects to the Sultan. We 
found him surrounded by some hundred Arabs, all talking at once, 
and disputing about money matters, while Mukni appeared to listen 
to them with extraordinary patience. We now had become better 
acquainted with Arabic, and I profited much by teaching the Sul- 
tan's Kttle son Yussuf to speak Enghsh. 
Sockna stands on an immense plain of gravel ; bounded to the 
south by the Soudah mountains, at about fifteen miles ; by the 
mountains of Wadan about thirty miles to the eastward ; a distant 
range to the west ; and those I have abeady mentioned on passing 
through to the north. The town is walled, and may contain 2000 
persons : more than half the people we saw this day were from 
Hoon and Wadan. There are small projections from the walls, 
having loop-holes for musketry. It has seven gates, only one of 
which wiU admit a loaded camel. The streets are very narrow, 
and the houses are built of mud and small stones mixed, many of 
them having a story above the ground floor. A smaU court is open 
in the centre; and the windows, or more properly the doors, which 
open from this area, give the only light which the rooms receive. 
The water of Sockna is almost all brackish or bitter. There are 
200,000 date trees in the immediate neighbourhood of the town, 
which pay duty ; also an equal number, not yet come into bearing, 
which are exempt. These dates grow in a belt of sand, at about 
two or three miles distant from the town, and are of a quahty far 
superior to any produced in the north of Africa. Owing to their 
