The Route Lay For The First Two Days Over A Sandy Irregular Desert, And Then Entered The Mountains Of Terkoona, Situated To The South-East Of Tripoli, And Which Seems To Be A Continuation Of The Gharian Or Wahryan Range.

Several little streams flow from the sides of the hills, abounding with game, particularly snipes and partridges.

On the sixth day, passing over a stony desert, they reached Benioleed, an Arab town, with about two thousand inhabitants. It consists of several straggling mud villages, on the sides of a fertile ravine, several miles in length, and bounded by rocks of difficult access. The centre is laid out in gardens, planted with date and olive trees, and producing also corn, vegetables, and pulse. The valley is subject to inundation during the winter rains, but in summer requires to be watered with great labour, by means of wells of extraordinary depth. It is inhabited by the Orfella tribe, subsisting chiefly by agriculture, and the rearing of cattle, aided only in a trifling degree by a manufacture of nitre; they are accounted hardy and industrious, but at the same time dishonest and cruel. Benioleed castle stands in latitude 31=B0 45' 38" N., longitude 14=B0 12' 10" E.

The houses are built of rough stones, on each side of the Wady, none are above eight feet in height, receiving their light only through the doors, and their appearance is that of a heap of ruins. The wells are from 100 to 200 feet in depth, the water excellent. During the rains, the valley frequently became flooded by the torrents, and the water has been known to rise so nigh as to hide from view the tallest olive trees in the low grounds. Men and animals are often drowned in the night, before they have time to escape. The torrents from the hill-sides rushing down with such impetuosity, that in an hour or two, the whole country is inundated.

On leaving Benioleed, it was necessary to take a supply of water for three days. The country presented an alternation of stony desert, and plains not incapable of cultivation, but having at this season no water. On the fifth day (6th April), they crossed Wady Zemzem, which runs into the Gulf of Syrtis, and passing over a plain strewed in some parts with cockle-shells, reached the well of Bonjem, which is the northern boundary of Fezzan.

On the 7th April, the camels being loaded with four days' water, the caravan left Bonjem, and proceeded over a barren desert called Klia. At the end of three hours and a half, they passed a remarkable mound of limestone and sand, resembling, until a very near approach, a white turret. It is called by the natives the Bowl of Bazeen, the latter word signifying an Arab dish, somewhat resembling a hasty pudding. The halt was made at the end of ten hours, in a sandy wady, called Boo-naja, twenty-two miles south-southeast of Bonjem.

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