TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 
3 
the Castle, were by no means fit approaches to a regal abode ; they 
were encumbered with the rubbish of houses fallen into ruin, and 
with the superfluous produce of those which were yet standing ; 
while swarms of little naked and dirty children, and numerous 
groups of hungry, half-starved dogs, almost blocked up the little 
space which was left for our passage. The dust which was una- 
voidably raised in our progress, together with the heat of the sun, 
and the myriads of gnats and flies which assailed us in every direc- 
tion, were no grateful additions to these inconveniences ; and we 
were heartily glad to find ourselves before the gates of the Castle, 
where a part of the Bashaw’s guard was drawm out in due form to 
receive us. After paying our respects to the Kechia *, (who was 
seated at the end of the skeefa, or entrance hall,) we were ushered 
along a dark and narrow passage, so irregular and uneven under 
foot, that we were in danger of falling at almost every stepf, and 
having passed at intervals several Tchaouses and soldiers, who 
were barely discernible through the gloom, we found ourselves at 
length in a spacious apartment, where a motley crowd of Christians, 
Turks, Arabs, and Jews, were assembled to wait His Highness’s 
leisure. 
We had not been long here before it was announced to us that the 
Bashaw was prepared to receive us ; and, on approaching the pre- 
* This officer holds the second place in the Regency, and is invested with the 
supreme power whenever His Highness is absent. 
t Tully observes, “We entered these gloomy passages, which always seem as if they 
led to some dreadful abode for the purpose of entombing the living.” 
B2 
