Next day, the 9th, we rose before sunrise and made a good day of nine
hours, still over the same plain of Taeeta. About three hours before we
reached the well of Tabea we crossed the real boundaries of the Fezzanee
territory, although the Tuaricks seem to claim the pass on the mountains
as their own. The weather was hot, there being no wind. On these
occasions the afternoons are very oppressive, and the sun causes his
power to be unpleasantly felt until an hour before sunset.

From the plain to-day we had a view of the Ghât mountains, which seem at
a distance to present different forms and characters from the high lands
on the edge of the plateau of Mourzuk. The bed of the undulating plain
of Taeeta is covered with pebbles and blocks, of both sand and
limestone. Yesterday I picked up some fossils of the star-fish--the
fixed star-fish, having branches by which it holds to the bottom of the
sea. Some fossils of vegetables were also found. Two or three hours
before reaching the well we descended rapidly into a broad, deep wady,
where were the recent marks of a waterflow. The camels all went well,
ours faster than the Targhee; but these latter, not being allowed to
stray, always make, as a rule, better and more regular journeys.

The Tuaricks themselves are getting more civil. Hateetah already enters
into the idea of a treaty of amity and commerce: he says he will fix the
amount the English merchants are to pay when they attend the mart of
Ghât. The son of Shafou is always represented as a very good fellow; he
is growing more and more civil and companionable. This evening I gave
him a small pair of good scissors, which much delighted him. As for the
other Tuaricks, Hateetah excepted, I make it a rule to refuse what they
ask, otherwise I should be annoyed every day with their importunities.
Hateetah says we must lodge at Ghât with Haj Ahmed, the governor,
outside of the town, to be out of the way of the begging Tuaricks. He