territory of profit to be made out of my mission. Whether I should be
able to meet all demands was a serious question with me. I am pleased to
say that the Governor's son came out to meet us, and conduct us to the
housed of his father, who, with several of the notables of Ghât, were
assembled, and gave us, in truth, a cordial reception.

It may be as well to remind the reader that Ghât is a small town which
has grown up in the territory of the Azgher Tuaricks, in consequence of
the convenience of the place as a station for the caravans from Soudan
Proper, and other points of Central Africa. It is inhabited principally
by people of Moorish origin, but mixed and known as Ghâteen. Haj Ahmed,
the governor, is also a Moor, born at Tuat. He is a marabout, or saint,
but is looked up to by the people for the settlement of all municipal
concerns. The Ghâteen derive their subsistence almost entirely from the
caravans, although their little oasis is not unfertile.

But the political authority of the country resides entirely in the hands
of the Azgher Tuaricks. Azgher is the name of the tribe or nation, and
Tuarick is a generic title, which scarcely implies even community of
origin, assumed by nearly all the wandering people of the Sahara. There
are the Haghar Tuaricks, to the west of Ghât and south-west towards
Timbuctoo; and the corresponding people of Aheer are called the Kailouee
Tuaricks. At Timbuctoo itself are found the Sorghau Tuaricks.

The chief of the Tuaricks of Ghât is nominally the venerable Shafou,
whose son came with Hateetah to escort me from Mourzuk; but the virtual
sultanship resides in Khanouhen, the heir-apparent, or son of Shafou's
sister: for this is the order of succession in Ghât. Every Tuarick,
however, is in some sort a chief, and more or less influence is acquired
by age or personal qualities. The principal men have divided the sources