82 JOURNEY FROM nate region here alluded to, that “ it rained in this part of Libya*” — and we had also, in this instance, full reason to acknowledge the accuracy of the father of history : for our stock of provisions was so much damaged by the rain which had attended our passage through the country, that we found it necessary to expose it a sepond time to the sun, before we ventured to secure it more eflPectually in the baskets.

The village of ZelTten contains from three to five hundred souls (as Shekh Benzahir, who presides there, informed us) ; and we were indebted to him, besides, for the honour of a visit, and a present (no less valuable) of some excellent F ezzan dates, which are thought to be superior to those of the country. The district of Zeliten, he further informed us, which extends from Wad’el Kh&han to Sehn, contains no less than fifteen villages and ten thousand inhabitants. The houses are built with mud and rough stones, the mud, on most occasions, preponderating, as it generally does in Arab buildings; the roofs are formed of mats and the branches of the palm-tree, on which is laid a quantity of earth. The villages of Igsaiba, Fehtir, IrgTg, and Snud, all smaller than Zeliten, but built after the same fashion, may be said to be appendages to that place.

Each of these villages, as well as Zeliten itself, is surrounded by plantations of date-trees and ohves, and presents a tolerable show of cultivation. The produce is more than the inhabitants consume, and the overplus, together with straw mats and earthern jars, manufactured in the place, are disposed of to Bedouin traders, or carried * Terai yag nr»vra rnr Aivns.