silk, or
muslin trousers.

The costume of the sultan's court or hangers-on, is strictly
Tripoline, and as fine as lace or presents of cast off-clothes can
make them. It is the custom with Mukni, in imitation of the bashaw,
to bestow occasionally on his principal people some article of dress.
Those presents are made with much affected dignity, by throwing the
garment to the person intended to be honoured, and saying, "Wear
that," the dress is immediately put on in his presence, and the
receiver kneels and kisses his hand in token of gratitude. Captain
Lyon once saw the old kadi, who was very corpulent, receive as a gift
a kaftan, which was so small for him, that when he had squeezed
himself into it, he was unable to move his arms, and was in that
condition obliged to walk home.

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 loav