TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 
9 
them belt was suspended a case of the same material, containing a 
brace of long pistols, near which hung a leathern pouch for powder 
and ball, and a smaller one which served as a pocket or purse. A 
red, or white cap, (for some had one, some the other,) and sandals of 
camel’s hide, fastened with thongs of leather, completed the whole 
costume. One only wore a turban ; and, on closer investigation, the 
pistol-cases and pistols of the person so distinguished appeared to be 
in better order than those of his companions. But no difference of 
attire was necessary to mark out Shekh Mahommed el Dubbah from 
those who accompanied him. A venerable length of beard, in which 
white was partially blended with gray, gave an air of patriarchal 
respectability to his appearance; and a singular mixture of energy and * 
complacency displayed the wild and daring spirit which animated 
him half subdued by the composure of age, and the decorum which 
it was necessary to observe on the occasion : a well-acted smile was 
playing on his lips, with which his voice and his manner, when he 
addressed us, corresponded ; but his large full eye, though its lustre 
was dimmed by age, was never for a moment at rest ; and wandered 
unceasingly from object to object, with a wildness and rapidity very 
different from the vacant stare of curiosity so conspicuous in the 
faces of most of his party. 
Shekh Mahommed was at this time nearly sixty years of age, and 
had early been very formidable as a robber in the district of Syrt. 
The circumstance of his being the head of a Marabut tribe, joined 
to the natural intrepidity of his character, had given him great 
influence over the Arabs of his neighbourhood ; and the daring 
c 
