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reign of Fezzan, a tributary of the pasha of Tripoli, 
is acknowledged by the government under the title 
of shek of Fezzan. The Fezzanians exercise at 
Tripoli the basest of all employments, such as car- 
riers, workmen in the ovens and in the sewers; they are 
negroes, very poor, and of a mild character. 
Two leagues south-east from Tripoli, the greatest 
saint or marabut of the country has his abode. He is 
called The Lion, and possesses a village, enclosed with 
a wall; and containing a mosque. The sacred dignity 
is hereditary from father to son, like that of the saints 
of Morocco; his village is an inviolable asylum for crimi- 
nals guilty of the greatest crimes, and even that of as- 
sassinating the pasha himself. The now reigning Lion 
is a man about forty years of age. 
The nearest mountains to the town are eight leagues 
south, and their inhabitants are tributaries of the pasha. 
As it is impossible to travel alone without danger, 
there are several caravans which go to and from the 
east in quiet times. The great caravans of Morocco, 
Algiers, Tunis, and El-Gerid, make a halt here for a 
fortnight, on their journey to Mecca; but unfortunately 
they cannot travel at the present juncture, on account 
of the troubles which agitate almost all Barbary and 
Egypt. This disappointment obliged me to go to Alex- 
andria by sea, in order to continue from thence my pil- 
grimage to the house of God* 
