Soudan,--a regular halting-place. Asben and Asbenouah are other names
given to this same territory, and do not denote other countries. The
Tibboos and Bornouese describe the whole territory of Fezzan as Zoilah,
a name derived from that of the ancient capital, Zoueelah. These double
names have hitherto caused great confusion in laying down unvisited
places in the desert. If we can penetrate and explore the kingdom of
Aheer or Asben, it will be doing a great service to geography.

_28th._--I am studying rural life in the neighbourhood of Mourzuk, as if
it were to be my occupation. Scarcely a day passes that I do not escape
from the crowded town and wander, either morning or evening, into the
gardens, the groves, and the fields. The water raised by rude machinery
from the wells is always dancing along in little runnels. The chattering
of women crosses my path right and left. Groups of labourers or
gardeners occur frequently. A man this day valued a date-palm at a
mahboub, and I am told that the greater number are not worth more than a
shilling of English money. To avert the evil eye from the gardens, the
people put up the head of an ass, or some portion of the bones of that
animal. The same superstition prevails in all the oases that stud the
north of Africa, from Egypt to the Atlantic, but the people are
unwilling to explain what especial virtue there exists in an ass's
skull. We go sometimes to shoot doves in the gardens; but these birds
are very shy, and after the first shot fly from tree to tree and keep
out of range. So we stroll about making observations, to console
ourselves for the loss of sport. We noticed several cotton-bushes, but
this useful plant is not cultivated here except that it may ornament the
gardens with its green. I have just eaten of the heart of the date-tree.
It is of a very delicious bitter, and is a choice dish at feasts.

I met with a number of the suburban inhabitants engaged in celebrating a