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 forms a very amusing group, 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 Morzouk the luxuries of life are very limited, the people subsisting principally on dates. Many do not, for months together, taste corn, and when obtained, they make it into a paste called Aseeda اسيد, which is a softer kind of Bazeen. Fowls have now almost disappeared in the country, owing to the Sultan’s 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 of course raises the price of the survivors. They are valued at three or four dollars each when they arrive quite skeletons, and are as high as ten or twelve when fatted. Bread is badly made, and baked in ovens formed of clay in holes in the earth, and heated by burning wood; the loaves, or rather flat cakes, are stuck into the side, and are thus baked by the heat which rises from the embers. Cusscussou, Dweeda, and Mogatta, are the best food they have. The mills are of the same description as the hand-mills of the Arabs. The corn, when ground, is tolerably fine; but the unavoidable friction of the stones causes much grit to mingle with it. In all their food, those who can afford it mix as much grease and red pepper as possible. A quart of butter is sometimes poured over the doughy mess for one man, who generally manages to finish it. This butter is brought in goats’ skins from the Syrtis, and other parts of the sea-coast; is very rancid, and from having been boiled previously to putting it in skins, is as liquid as oil: it is considered a great dainty, and is very dear. Shahm, or salt boiled suet, is brought by the same people who trade in butter. Oil is the produce of Benioleed, Mesurāta, and the Gharian Mountains. All the animals live on dates. Horses and asses are fed on the fruit; camels, sheep, and goats, on the stones, which the women break up by hammering them on some hard substance. This is the general occupation of females, who are not employed to work in the gardens.