The Sheikh of Agar received us well this time, sending us two fowls and
supper for our people. This place consists of huts made of palm-branches
and of mud hovels, several of which are in ruins. The same remark
constantly recurs in reference to almost all the towns of Barbary, both
towards the coast and far in the interior. The vital principle of
civilisation seems to have exhausted itself in those parts.
I was now in a country comparatively familiar to me, and knew that I had
but one more ride to reach the capital of Fezzan. Rising early on the
6th, therefore, I determined to press on in advance of the caravan; and
starting with warm weather, puffs of wind coming now from the
south-east, now from the north-west, very unsteadily--the atmosphere was
slightly murky, with sand flying about--I soon came in sight of the
palm-groves of Mourzuk, without making any other rencontre than a
Tuarick coursing over the desert in full costume. The old castle peeped
picturesquely through the trees, but I had still a good way to go before
reaching shelter. The sand and white earth that form the surface of the
oasis near the town were painfully dazzling to my eyes.
At length I reached the suburbs, where a few people stared curiously at
me. My arrival had been announced by the chaouches, who had gone on
about a quarter of an hour before; and at the eastern gate the soldiers
allowed me to pass without notice, or any allusion to _gumruk_.
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