82 
JOURNEY FROM 
nate region here alluded to, that “ it rained in this part of Libya*” — 
and we had also, in this instance, full reason to acknowledge the accu- 
racy of the father of history : for our stock of provisions was so much 
damaged by the rain which had attended our passage through the 
country, that we found it necessary to expose it a sepond time to the 
sun, before we ventured to secure it more eflPectually in the baskets. 
The village of ZelTten contains from three to five hundred souls 
(as Shekh Benzahir, who presides there, informed us) ; and we were 
indebted to him, besides, for the honour of a visit, and a present 
(no less valuable) of some excellent F ezzan dates, which are thought 
to be superior to those of the country. The district of Zeliten, 
he further informed us, which extends from Wad’el Kh&han to 
Sehn, contains no less than fifteen villages and ten thousand 
inhabitants. The houses are built with mud and rough stones, the 
mud, on most occasions, preponderating, as it generally does in Arab 
buildings; the roofs are formed of mats and the branches of the 
palm-tree, on which is laid a quantity of earth. The villages of 
Igsaiba, Fehtir, IrgTg, and Snud, all smaller than Zeliten, but built 
after the same fashion, may be said to be appendages to that place. 
Each of these villages, as well as Zeliten itself, is surrounded by 
plantations of date-trees and ohves, and presents a tolerable show of 
cultivation. The produce is more than the inhabitants consume, 
and the overplus, together with straw mats and earthern jars, manu- 
factured in the place, are disposed of to Bedouin traders, or carried 
* Terai yag ^nr»vra rnr Ai^vns. 
