CHAP. II. 
JOURNEY TO MORZOUK. 
75 
south ten miles, we arrived at Hoon, It is a smaller town 
than Sockna, but walled, and built in the same manner : its palms 
and gardens are close to the walls. It lias three gates, three 
mosques, and a large building which is dignified v/ith the name 
of a castle, although it does not appear even to have a loop- 
hole for musketry. The inhabitants, having about three hundred 
muskets, came out to welcome Yussuf, and we met with the same 
boisterous reception as was given a few days before to the Sultan. 
A number of dancing women performed in the court of the house 
in which we were assembled, the greatest part of the day ; and in 
the evening the slaves joined the concert with their cymbals. The 
whole was so completely to tlie taste of Mukni's itien, and con- 
tinued so long, that the performers were literally tired out. When 
they came to request corn or money from the spectators, it was to 
us they first applied, as considering us the greatest personages ; but" 
we were so poor, in despite of our fine garments, that we actually 
had nothing to give, which disappointed and astonished them much. 
In the burying-grounds near the town we observed that nearly 
all the graves were ornamented with one or more ostrich eggs, as 
were the doors and angles of the mosques, and their enclosures. 
We enterecLthe tomb of a ]\faraboot, and standing near the grave, 
recited the " Fatha" aloud. In the evening we visited the gardens, 
which are close to the town, the latter being completely hidden 
from the view by the thick palms which surround it. The soil is 
sand, but the grain was in the most luxuriant state of forwardness, 
owing to its being constantly refreshed by little channels from the 
wells, the water of which is brackish. 
The people of the town having been told what sum of money 
they were required to collect before we returned from \Yadan, we 
proceeded on the 15th April to that place, passing over a barren 
stony flat east by north twelve or thirteen miles. The town is not 
if ' Tl. 2 ^ 
