Escort En-Noor, as I am obliged to distinguish him, returns to his place this night, and takes with him three or four camels, to give them something to eat; they are starving here near the town.  I settled with him for the thirty-seven reals of Wataitee in goods, not money;—­so the Queen’s property goes!

The peculiarity of this locality at the present season of the year appears to be, that it rains every afternoon, beginning about three P.M.; the showers being preceded by a few puffs of strong wind, and continuing till an hour before dark.  This is fortunate for us, for we know how to prepare ourselves for circumstances.  Under tent we have a most drenching dampness during the night, continuing till the sun gets well up next morning.  The people say that the rain has given over in Soudan.  The season is, therefore, later here.  The rain, if I may use the expression, would seem now to travel north; it has, however, began up in the higher regions surrounding Constantine.  When I was there, I believe in August 1846, it had already set in; and now it will soon begin in Tripoli.  At nine A.M. we begin to dry our clothes, and we get pretty well dried and aired by the time the rain begins again in the afternoon.

The day before yesterday a woman died in Tintalous, and was carried to the grave solely by women.  This was considered an extraordinary thing by the Moors of the coast, but I see nothing extraordinary in the circumstance.  The fact is, the Moors think the men ought to do everything except bear children and perform the drudgery of the household.

We have little communication with the town, the rain cutting us off from it and its inhabitants.  A flood of water pours down the valley every evening, after which the ground continues all night and all next day in a state of wet mud.

9th.—­I rose without receiving any good news.  On the contrary, Mr. Sfaxee, who has always professed such disinterestedness, begins to hint demands.  I find that I shall have to pay him as much as the other people.  Escort En-Noor, by the way, was delighted with the little present I made to him of a pair of coloured scissors for his wife.  The thermometer a little after mid-day rose to 94 deg.  Fahr. and 27 deg. 30’ of Reaum.  In the afternoon the rain only threatened, and we had but two or three puffs of wind.

We hear that the Sultan is better; and from his servants we collect that he is not willing we should go on to Zinder unless escorted by himself.  Certainly this arrangement would please us under ordinary circumstances; but we hear that it would detain us two or three months in Aheer, which will never do.  To-day I made acquaintance with the round salt-cakes of Bilma.  They consist of a very rough species of salt, like so many big round grains of the coarsest sandstone.  One that I saw was of a dark brown colour, extremely dirty, about half-a-foot in diameter.  Apparently these lumps are very compact; they serve as money both in Soudan and Tintalous.  The greater part of the revenue of Aheer is derived from this salt carrying between Bilma and Zinder.