260 INTERCOURSE WITH AFRICA.

late author, wno has given us the fullest description of Timbuctoo'' and its vicinity, a Plattilia is there worth fifty Mexico dollars, or twenty meezens of gold each meezen being worth two and a half Mexico dollars ; a piece ofIrish linen of ordinary quality, and measuring twenty-five yards, is worth seventy-five Mexico dollars ; and a quintal of loaf sugar is worth one hundred Mexico dollars. Now if we investigate the parsimonious mode oftraversing the Desert, we shall find that a journey of 1500 English miles is performed from Fas to Timbuctoo at the rate of forty shillings sterling per quintal, so that loaf sugar (a weighty and bulky article) can be rendered from London at Timbuctoo through Tetuan and Fas, including the expense of a land-carriage of 1500 miles at about 6/. per quintal, thus : Refined sugar on board in London for s. d, per cwt. ----70 Duty on importation in any part of Marocco, ten per cent. --70 Freight, &c. %nq per cent. --6 Land carriage across the Desert on camels to Timbuctoo ---40 s. 120 6 See new Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, article Africa, page 98.

See the account of Timbuctoo appended to Jackson's account of Marocco, published by Cadell and Davies, London, Chap. 13.