282 
TRAVELS IN NORTHERN AFRICA. 
CHAP. VII. 
indemnifying themselves for the losses he occasions them. All 
their prisoners are sold as slaves, and the money or goods arising 
from such sale appropriated chiefly by the kings of the country. 
In Fezzan the punishment for crimes is as in Tripoli, though 
hanging is not commonly practised, strangling being more to the 
Sultan's taste. If a man is found murdered, and the authors or 
instigators of his death are unknown or unconvicted, the inha- 
bitants of the town, in or near which the body is found, are obliged 
to pay to the Sultan a fine of 2000 dollars. If a corpse is found 
on the desert with marks of violence on it, the people of the districts 
which border that desert must pay the requisite sum. Should the 
murderer return after a few months, he escapes notice, provided 
the penalty be paid ; but this cannot be done either by the principal 
or his relations. Mukni was himself in this predicament some few 
years since, when he murdered the broker of the British consulate 
at Tripoh ; the Bashaw affected to be ignorant of his flight, and 
after he had remained six months with the Arabs, allowed him to 
return to Tripoli, where he was as well received as if he had been 
an innocent man. The family of a criminal is never involved in 
his punishment, that is to say, they are not dishonoured or dis- 
graced ; but if the convicted person is sentenced to lose his pro- 
perty, all his immediate dependants are reduced to beggary. A 
grand-daughter of the last rightful Sultan is at this moment a 
common beggar ; yet, while every one allows her to he noble, 
they are unable to relieve her, except with a httle corn or 
some dates. 
The general appearance of the men of Fezzan is plain, and 
their complexion black ; the women are of the same colour, and 
ugly in the extreme. Neither sex are remarkable for figure, 
height, strength, vigour, or activity. They have a very pecuHar 
