The authority of parents over their children is very great; some fathers of the better class do not allow their sons even to eat or sit down in their presence, until they become men; the poorer orders are less strict.

There are no written records of events amongst the Fezzaners, and their traditions are so disfigured, and so strangely mingled with religious and superstitious falsehoods, that no confidence can be placed in them.  Yet the natives themselves look with particular respect on a man capable of talking of the people of the olden time.  Several scriptural traditions are selected and believed.  The Psalms of David, the Pentateuch, the Books of Solomon, and many extracts from the inspired writers, are universally known, and most reverentially considered.  The New Testament, translated into the Arabic, which Captain Lyon took with him, was eagerly read, and no exception was made to it, but that of our Saviour being designated as the son of God.  St. Paul, or Baulus, bears all the blame of Mahomet’s name not being inserted in it, as they believe that his coming was foretold by Christ, but that Paul erased it; he is therefore called a kaffir, and his name is not used with much reverence.

Captain Lyon had not been more than ten days at Mourzouk, before he was attacked with severe dysentery, which confined him to his bed during twenty-two days, and reduced him to the last extremity.  His unadorned narrative conveys an affecting account of the sufferings to which the party were exposed from the insalubrity of the climate; the inadequate arrangements which had been made for their comfort, or even subsistence, and the sordid and treacherous conduct of the sultan.  “Our little party,” he says, “was at this time miserably poor; for we had money only sufficient for the purchase of corn to keep us alive, and never tasted meat, unless fortunate enough to kill a pigeon in the gardens.  My illness was the first break up in our little community, and from that time, it rarely happened that one or two of us were not confined to our beds.  The extreme saltness of the water, the poor quality of our food, together with the excessive heat and dryness of the climate, long retarded my recovery, and when it did take place, it was looked on as a miracle by those who had seen me in my worst state, and who thought it impossible for me to survive.  I was no sooner convalescent than Mr. Ritchie fell ill, and was confined to his bed with an attack of bilious fever, accompanied with delirium, and great pain in his back and kidneys, for which he required frequent cupping.  When a little recovered, he got up for two days, but his disorder soon returned with redoubled and alarming violence.  He rejected every thing but water, and, excepting about three hours in the afternoon, remained either constantly asleep or in a delirious state.  Even had he been capable of taking food, we had not the power of purchasing any which could nourish or refresh him.  Our money