badness of the road, to dismount from horseback. In the last years, I believe something has been done to improve this piece of road, which may be considered good by any one who is acquainted with the passes of the Lebanon.

CHAPTER IX.

Improvidence of the Arabs.-Derna, its lively appearance.Ruined Battery.—Curious Bargain.

FROM the summit of the Okbah one looks down upon a long line of coast, the view extending to the promontory Ras el Hilal (Nausthasmus) on the left, and eastward to the Ras el Tin. The hills which run along the sea-line to the right are barren sandstone; the coast, a line of low rocks; and from this point Derna is only just visible, as a dark spot on the sea-shore in the midst of glaring sands. It took an hour to descend from this height to the more level ground; and the intense heat reflected from the sandy soil, where not a shrub affords the slightest shade, made this the least pleasant three hours' ride I had yet had in this country. Neither well nor fountain is met with in this day's march till about an hour from Derna, where a brackish spring issues from the rock, and flows directly into the sea, in a situation where it is difficult

to find it. At length, after ascending a low hill of sand, which had hitherto bounded the view ahead, the green gardens of Derna relieve the eye, lying between the foot of bare rocky hills and the sea. Here I was most kindly received by the English Vice-Consul, Mr. Aquilina, whose ready hospitality I with difficulty declined, being unwilling to inflict the presence of strange servants on his establishment. Through his kindness I was soon put in possession of a garden, where I pitched my tent under the shade of its palms and fig-trees. Though we had not before met, I was already indebted to this gentleman for many of the attentions shown me while at Grennah; and during my stay here I derived from him much valuable information-the result of his thirteen years' residence among them-regarding the people of the country and their governors.

Leo Africanus, in the sixth book of his "Description of Africa," gives an account of the poverty of the inhabitants of Barca, and tells how they were in the habit of bartering their children for corn with the merchants of Sicily. The spontaneous fertility and pastoral wealth of the country, as I saw it, seemed to contradict this account, though the general fidelity of the author inclined me to place almost implicit belief in him. In Derna I afterwards learned, that his description, instead of exceeding, falls far short of

Chap. IX.

IMPROVIDENCE OF THE ARABS.

115

the truth during the seasons when the country is desolated by one of those blights which occur at uncertain periods. The Arabs of Gebel-el-Achdar are among the least provident people in the world; and when a reverse befalls them, are one and all, the poor and the wealthy, reduced to the greatest straits. When the crops are abundant, everything becomes dear, labour can be obtained on no terms, the Arab refuses to sell either his cattle or flocks, he buys slaves and horses at any price, and setting his cap on one side, spends all his time in riding and gormandising. But sometimes a flight of locusts descends upon the country, and in a few hours every blade of corn or grass, and every leaf, have disappeared; or successive years of drought wither up the crops, and then, no provender remaining for the cattle, the wells are exhausted, and pestilence, which spares neither man nor beast, follows hard upon the scarcity and the drought. Then, though too late, the Arab is as anxious to sell all he has at any price he can obtain, as he was before hard in his dealings and careless of reasonable gain. He eats the corn reserved for seed, and when the rains at length descend to fecundate the country, the fields remain unsown. Such a visitation came upon them some eight years ago. Their cattle, the great wealth of the country, died for want of food; the next year there was no grain for sowing, and then the misery

was so terrible that it would require the

pen

of a Defoe

to describe it. The strongest guard was insufficient to insure the safety of the traveller in such a season; misery rendered the people desperate, so that it seemed easier to them to die in combat than by the slow agony of want. Parents sold their children literally for a few measures of barley: a very pretty girl was offered to one of my acquaintance for two dollars; and I know some persons who, through pure compassion, bought children at this price. The dying were devoured even before life was extinct; and in the ravings of hunger, as eye-witnesses have related to me, the poor wretches would gnaw the thighs and arms of those who, more reduced than themselves, were too weak to defend themselves. Thousands emigrated into Egypt, and hundreds of them died of exhaustion on the road thither.

We read in antiquity, even in the flourishing days of the empire, of terrible famines in this country; but these, doubtless, were alleviated by the resources of the other provinces. Though again subject to an extensive empire, the country can now look for no such assistance when these disasters fall upon it. The duty of the provinces is, to send yearly subsidies to the capital; that of the Government is, to send rapacious satraps to enrich themselves by the spoils of the people, and to stifle their complaints.