242 TRAVELS IN NORTHERN AFRICA. CHAP. vi. 
pain in the spleen and liver. I imagined this attack to proceed 
from the coarseness of our bazeen, which was made of bad gaphooly, 
and resembled dough. The Sheikh brought me a dome date, which 
was a curiosity rarely seen in Fezzan ; it was the size of a large 
cob walnut. The rind, which is hard and dry, is the oidy part 
eaten, and is gnawed off ; under it is a hard covering, which en- 
closes the stone ; the outer shell is so strong as to resist a ham- 
mer, and even to break knives. The taste of the rind is not much 
unlike that of stale gingerbread, which it resembles both in smell 
and colour. There were four trees of the dome date here, which I 
purposed seeing. I was so fortunate as to purchase a dried and 
smoked fish from the Niger near Kashna, which I intended taking 
to England. 
This evening, while lying in my bed, I heard the mewing of a 
cat, which our people imagined must be the devil. At first they 
attempted to laugh ; but the boy significantly remarking that " the 
Castle was a very old place," Besheer and the Kaid hastened to 
load their guns, and to fire them off in the Skeefa; Iblis, or the 
devil, being much averse to gunpowder, or any thing of which 
sulphur forms a part ; each then, taking a lighted palm branch, 
rushed out to look for the cause of their alarm ; the poor cat had, 
however, in the meantime escaped. On their return, the camel 
man, whom they considered a great scholar, roared out the Ivorsi, a 
most powerful charm against every kind of spirit, from Iblis and 
the httle Shiateen, or young devils, down to gholes and afrites. 
After this comforting stave, he hurried over several chapters of the 
Koran in the same key ; but owing to the Raid's musket not going 
off until he had snapped it four or five times, their fears remained 
in full force, and they continued talking and praying until a late 
hour, convinced that Iblis was still in the house. They were not 
