8th. The plateau of Mourzuk, consisting of shallow valleys, ridges of
low sandstone hills, and naked flats, or plains, sometimes of sand, at
others covered with pebbles and small stones.

All these zones beyond the Atlas are visited by only occasional showers,
or are entirely without rain, the vegetation depending upon irrigation
from wells. I do not go into further detail on this subject, because,
although our line of route was new, this stretch of country is tolerably
well known to the geographical reader.

I have omitted to mention, or to lay much stress on the fact, that we
were unable to procure sufficient camels at Tripoli to convey our goods
all the way to Mourzuk. We were compelled to leave three camel-loads
behind, in the first place, at Gharian; these were subsequently got on
to Kaleebah, and thence to Mizdah: but there the influence of Izhet
Pasha's circular letter entirely failed to procure for us three extra
camels, and we were compelled to push on to Mourzuk, leaving part of our
goods in the oasis. This circumstance caused me a great deal of
annoyance, both on the route and after our arrival, for it was a long
time before we got in all our baggage. However, it at last arrived, and
the delay only served to illustrate the difficulty of procuring
conveyance in these dismal countries, and to lead us into considerable
expense.




CHAPTER VI.