204 
TRAVELS IN NORTHERN AFRICA. 
CHAP. V. 
The village of Hadge Hajeel is half a mile south of the gardens, 
and has about 250 inhabitants ; this is the place which Horne- 
man mentions under the name of Sidi Besheer, whose tomb stands 
near it. 
Dec. 15th. Therm. 9°. 30^.— At 8. 30. A. M. we started with 
Mohammed, who was to take us to Zaizow, and at a mile S.E. of 
the gardens, arrived at the tomb of Sidi Besheer, where we recited 
the Fatha, or first chapter of the Koran, and where I gave a dollar 
to purchase food for the poor. It was a smaU mud hut, white- 
washed in front, covered at the top with palm branches, and standing 
on a sandy plain. Custom, and the sanctity of the Maraboot, 
induce all Kaffles coming from the Interior to stop and refresh the 
slaves and animals at this spot, previously to their entering Mor- 
zouk ; and here, too, all travellers assembhng for the Interior, meet. 
Hard by are the ruins of an old Arab Castle, called Gusser Hamadi. 
On leaving this plain, we got into a most excellent beaten road, 
running S. and by E. to Zaizow, and passed four of the Sultan's 
men on horseback, escorting three poor Angela Arabs, bound on 
camels, with thirty-eight slaves, once their property. These people 
had been six years trading in Soudan, and were now on their way 
to prison. We left fourteen of their countrymen in confinement 
when we set out. 
At 10. 35. arrived at the small village of Zaizow, where we 
found the Kaid Saad, who was to be our attendant, sitting on the 
sand, at his own door, making women's red shoes. On seeing the 
Sultan's order, he sprung up with alacrity, and carrying his tools 
into the house, returned to us in a short time, in a gay dress, with 
a sabre hanging over his shoulder. He was a fine honest looking 
black, very fat and well oiled, and had the appearance of a great 
eater, which qualification he soon gave proof of While waiting 
here, we saw a black woman with hps of a pale pink colour, and 
