iSB VARIOUS LETi'ERS this sentence pass through the press without submitting to the pubHc my observations on the subject.

Sidi Matte Buhlal is a native of Fas : the name is properly Sidi El Mattie Bu Hellal. This gentleman is one out of twenty authorities from whom I derived the information recorded in my account of Marocco, respecting Timbuctoo and the interior of Africa ; his whole family, which is respectable and numerous, are among the first Timbuctoo merchants that have their establishments at Fas. I should, however, add, that among the many authorities from whom I derived my information relative to Timbuctoo, there were two muselmin in particular, — merchants of respectability and intelligence, who came from Timbuctoo to Santa Cruz, soon after / opened that port to Dutch commerce in the capacity of agent of Hollandy by order of the then Emj)eror of Marocco, Muley Yezzid, brother and predecessor of the present Emperor Soliman. These two gentlemen had resided at Timbuctoo, and in other parts of Sudan, fifteen years, trading during the whole of that period with Darbeyta, on the coast of the Red Sea, with Jinnie, Housa, Wangara, Cashna, and other countries of the interior, from whom, and from others, equally intelligent and credible, I procured my information respecting the mediterranean sea in the interior of Africa, called El Bahar Assudan, i. e. the Sea of Sudan, situated fifteen days' journey east of Timbuctoo. These two