We stayed there for two days until we accomplished our purpose. Among the peculiar characteristics of this place is that the traveler feels at ease and not frightened by it. It is a wonder that the news from the caravan people is that they throw stones, small ones, as if they were beating drums, and they make a sound like drums, and the reason for this is unknown. Is it an echo in the air, or is it something placed there? Glory be to Him who knows the truth of this. The caravan people told me that when the nights are dark and gloomy, on every Friday night, drum sounds are heard from the mountain, as if it were a grove, and they do not know its truth. Then we departed on the morning of the third day after filling our water containers and entered a desert where we traveled for five days, arriving on the sixth day at a place called Luqiyya. We found there a well surrounded by sand, and its water was sweet and pure. Before we reached Luqiyya, a caravan coming from Bi'r al-Natrun, known as al-Za'awi, presented itself to us. Its people were Arabs called al-'Amam. They greeted us peacefully and then departed from us peacefully. We stayed in Luqiyya for two days. On the morning of the third day, we departed for al-Za'awi, intending to go there. And behold, a messenger came from the direction of Darfur with the news of the death of the late, just, and glorious King, Sultan Abd al-Rahman al-Rashid, King of Darfur and its dependencies, the Sultan of its furthest and nearest parts, and that he was going to Egypt to renew the seal which