TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 3

the Castle, were by no means fit approaches to a regal abode ; they were encumbered with the rubbish of houses fallen into ruin, and

with the superfluous produce of those which were yet standing ;

while swarms of little naked and dirty children, and numerous

groups of hungry, half-starved dogs, almost blocked up the little

space which was left for our passage. The dust which was una-

voidably raised in our progress, together with the heat of the sun,

and the myriads of gnats and flies which assailed us in every direc-

tion, were no grateful additions to these inconveniences ; and we

were heartily glad to find ourselves before the gates of the Castle,

where a part of the Bashaw’s guard was drawm out in due form to receive us. After paying our respects to the Kechia *, (who was seated at the end of the skeefa, or entrance hall,) we were ushered

along a dark and narrow passage, so irregular and uneven under

foot, that we were in danger of falling at almost every stepf, and

having passed at intervals several Tchaouses and soldiers, who

were barely discernible through the gloom, we found ourselves at

length in a spacious apartment, where a motley crowd of Christians,

Turks, Arabs, and Jews, were assembled to wait His Highness’s leisure.

We had not been long here before it was announced to us that the

Bashaw was prepared to receive us ; and, on approaching the pre-

* This officer holds the second place in the Regency, and is invested with the supreme power whenever His Highness is absent.

t Tully observes, “We entered these gloomy passages, which always seem as if they

led to some dreadful abode for the purpose of entombing the living.” B2