CHAP. IV. 
MORZOUK. 
189 
and fines levied ; each town pays a certain sum, which is small, but 
as the towns are numerous, may be averaged to produce 4000 
doUars. Add to this, his annual excursions for slaves, sometimes 
bringing 1000 or 1500, of which one-fourth are his, as well as the 
same proportion of camels. He alone can sell horses ; which he 
buys for five or six dollars, when half starved, from the Arabs, who 
come to trade and cannot maintain them ; and makes a great profit 
by obtaining slaves in exchange for them. All his people are fed 
by the public, and he has no money to pay but to the Bashaw, 
which, until the recent quarrel, was 15,000 dollars per annum. I 
have enumerated his general income, but there are various other 
ways in which he extorts money. If a man dies childless, the 
Sultan inherits great part of his property ; and if he thinks it 
necessary to kill a man, he becomes his entire heir ! All his people 
are on an allowance from him, out of what he takes from others, at 
about the rate of two Kail, or above two gallons, of corn, and four 
of dates, per month. His negresses are also allowanced in corn, 
dates, oil, &c. according to their size and age. 
In company with Mohammed the ]\Iamluke, I rode to Tes- 
souwa, an inconsiderable town about twenty miles west of Mor- 
zouk. It has the remains of an old Arab castle, built of mud. The 
palms are not numerous, and the inhabitants amount to about 300. 
It is divided from Morzouk by a plain of sand. 
On the 8th of November, 1819, Mr. Eitchie being again attacked 
by illness, I much wished him to allow of my selling some of our 
powder to procure him a few comforts ; but to this he would not 
consent. On the 9th I also fell ill, and was confined to my bed ; 
and Belford, though himself an invalid, attended on us both. Our 
man servant was of no use to us whatever ; but, on the contrary, 
presuming on our poverty, did exactly as he pleased. Our little 
girl, however, assisted in nursing us. After lying in a torpid state 
