CHAP. III. 
ARRIVAL AT MORZOUK. 
91 
arrived at 25 or 30 years of age : this he considered as highly im- 
proper ; but in some degree reconciled it to his way of thinking, by 
supposing that they must, in that case, have a great number of con- 
cubines, and that they only married those who brought them children. 
He did not find fault with our customs in that respect, as he 
had, himself, only one wife ; but he had 50 Negresses, which was 
considered a very moderate allowance for a Sultan of Fezzan. He 
frequently asked me how natural children were disposed of, when 
it was requisite to conceal their birth from the parents of the 
offending parties. His pointed manner of questioning me on this 
subject led me to some suspicion of his motives for the inquiry ; 
and I afterwards discovered, from several of his people, that he 
invariably caused to be strangled all babes born of his Negresses 
by other men, and that it was the general custom at Tripoh, to 
poison illegitimate infants in the womb. The mother of httle 
Yussuf, his son, had a child about a year since, perfectly black. 
Mukni being satisfied it could not be his, sent for the suspected 
father, and made him strangle the infant : the mother was allowed 
to return to her own country, which was considered a great piece 
of lenity, death being usually the punishment for such an offence. 
Our travelling pace was a walk of the horses, which generally 
got considerably in advance of the camels. At noon, or about that 
time, if we could find a tree, we stopped under it ; if not, we sat 
under the shadow of our horses. The Sultan was grand victualler, 
and generally produced a bag of bread or dates, or the remains 
of his dinner of the day before. Each one then had a portion, 
not sufficient to be called a dinner, but to break his fast; and 
after eating, and drinking a few mouthfuls of water, stretched 
himself out, and slept until the camels came up : the party then 
mounted and rode on. These rests were very refreshing to 
the men and horses ; but the loaded camels never made any 
N 2 
