“It is with the sincerest joy I communicate to you my safe arrival here. Every thing smiles and promises complete success to our enterprise. Accounts arrived here a few days ago, that the pasha’s army had penetrated to fifty-seven days’ journey beyond Bornou—a circumstance exceedingly favourable to us, as no danger need be apprehended the greater part of the way we design to take. This town has a very indifferent appearance. I expected to see numerous domes and gilded minarets, but such is not the case; a few ill-shaped plain minarets are the only objects that relieve the eye. The houses are clumsily built, with windows looking into a square court. The roofs are all flat, and on them the Moors enjoy themselves in the evenings, smoking their pipes. The streets are narrow, and, from the deficiency of windows, have a very sombre effect. The inhabitants consist of Moors, Jews, Christians, and Negroes; and although most of them are poor and filthy, and live in miserable dwellings, yet they may be regarded as happy; for there is here more toleration than in any other Mahometan country. “I have been presented to the pasha. He was sitting, with great dignity, on his couch, in the manner of eastern princes, and with a slight nod returned our salutations: he appeared to be about the middle size—very corpulent—and apparently about forty years of age. He was grave—a necessary part of the ceremony, I suppose—for it vanished considerably when he began to converse. He promised us every protection through all his dominions, which extend far to the south, and said he should astonish Britain by the distance he could conduct us all in safety into the interior of the country. The castle he inhabits is far from being neat and clean, and many of his attendants present a very shabby appearance. The neighbouring country has nothing prepossessing; a few date and other trees line the outskirts of the town; but for many miles beyond this there is nothing but sand. In a few days we intend to make an excursion with a party into the mountains, and to the remains of an ancient Roman city. In my next, I shall give you some particulars of the excursion.” None of the letters in our possession contain any thing relative to the mountains or the antiquities in the neighbourhood of Tripoli; but we remember to have heard extracts of a letter from Dr. Oudney to one of his friends in Edinburgh, dated Tripoli, 30th of October 1821, in the Wernerian Natural History Society; and these extracts formed the result of the excursion which he tells his sister he intended to make to the mountains of Tripoli and to the ruins of a Roman city. His next letter to his sister is dated Tripoli, December 10th, 1821, in which he says—