TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 9

them belt was suspended a case of the same material, containing a

brace of long pistols, near which hung a leathern pouch for powder

and ball, and a smaller one which served as a pocket or purse. A

red, or white cap, (for some had one, some the other,) and sandals of

camel’s hide, fastened with thongs of leather, completed the whole costume. One only wore a turban ; and, on closer investigation, the

pistol-cases and pistols of the person so distinguished appeared to be

in better order than those of his companions. But no difference of

attire was necessary to mark out Shekh Mahommed el Dubbah from

those who accompanied him. A venerable length of beard, in which

white was partially blended with gray, gave an air of patriarchal

respectability to his appearance; and a singular mixture of energy and * complacency displayed the wild and daring spirit which animated

him half subdued by the composure of age, and the decorum which

it was necessary to observe on the occasion : a well-acted smile was

playing on his lips, with which his voice and his manner, when he

addressed us, corresponded ; but his large full eye, though its lustre

was dimmed by age, was never for a moment at rest ; and wandered

unceasingly from object to object, with a wildness and rapidity very

different from the vacant stare of curiosity so conspicuous in the faces of most of his party.

Shekh Mahommed was at this time nearly sixty years of age, and

had early been very formidable as a robber in the district of Syrt.

The circumstance of his being the head of a Marabut tribe, joined

to the natural intrepidity of his character, had given him great

influence over the Arabs of his neighbourhood ; and the daring

c