Each of the sultan’s sons has a large troop of slaves, who attend him wherever he goes; they are generally about the same age as their master, and are his playmates, though they are obliged to receive from him many hearty cuffs, without daring to complain.  The suite of the youngest boy in particular, formed a very amusing groupe, few of them exceeding five years of age.  One bears his master’s bornouse, another holds one shoe, walking next to the boy who carries its fellow.  Some are in fine cast-off clothes, with tarnished embroidery, whilst others are quite or nearly naked, without even a cap on their heads, and the procession is closed by a boy, tottering under the weight of his master’s state gun, which is never allowed to be fired off.

In Mourzouk, the luxuries of life are very limited, the people principally subsisting on dates.  Many do not, for months together, taste corn; when obtained, they make it into a paste called asooda, which is a softer kind of bazeen. Fowls have now almost disappeared in the country, owing to the sultan having appropriated all he could find for the consumption of his own family.  The sheep and goats are driven from the mountains near Benioleed, a distance of four hundred miles; they pass over one desert, which, at their rate of travelling, occupies five days, without food or water.  Numbers therefore die, which in course raises the price of the survivors, They are valued at three or four dollars each, when they arrive, being quite skeletons, and are as high as ten and twelve, when fatted.  Bread is badly made, and is baked in ovens formed of clay in holes in the earth, and heated by burning wood; the loaves, or rather flat cakes are struck into the side, and are thus baked by the heat which rises from the embers.  Butter is brought in goat-skins from the Syrtis, and is very dear.  Tobacco is very generally chewed by the women, as well as by the men.  They use it with the trona (soda).  Smoking is the amusement of a great man, rather than of the lower class, the mild tobacco being very dear, and pipes not easily procured.

The revenues of the sultan of Fezzan arise from slaves, merchandise, and dates.  For every slave, great or small, he receives, on their entering his kingdom, two Spanish dollars; in some years the number of slaves amount to 4,000; for a camel’s load of oil or butter, seven dollars; for a load of beads, copper, or hardware, four dollars; and of clothing, three dollars.  All Arabs, who buy dates pay a dollar duty on each load, equal at times to the price of the article, before they are allowed to remove it.  Above 3,000 loads are sold to them annually.  Date trees, except those of the kadi and mamlukes, are taxed at the rate of one dollar for every two hundred; by this duty, in the neighbourhood of Mourzouk, or more properly in the few immediately neighbouring villages, the sultan receives yearly 10,000 dollars.  Of all sheep or goats, he is entitled to a fifth.