On our return to the town, I observed that its walls and houses were of a light green colour, while the castle in ruins appeared of a reddish clay; but I soon discovered that the earth and clay all round the town were actually green, and I collected specimens of them. This place appears to have been once of some consequence, but is now nearly in ruins, and has not, I should imagine, above five or six hundred inhabitants. At 2 P.M. thermometer 19°. The Marāboot sent us a couple of fowls and some bread; and as the Kaid of the town followed the present to know if we were properly served, he came in for his share. I observed here, with much satisfaction, that Belford seemed quite recovered from his giddiness, though he remained very thin and weak. Dec. 17th. Thermometer 8° 30′. Raw misty morning, with the wind in the north-east. We visited the Gusba, or castle, the ruins of which show it to have once been a place of some importance as an Arab fortress. The Marāboot informed me that it had been built prior to Morzouk, in which case it must be nearly six hundred years old. A story is told, that of the asses employed in bringing the materials for building it, 500 died before it was finished, of mere fatigue. About sixty years ago it was inhabited by a brother of the native Sultan’s, who governed the eastern provinces, and was styled “Sultan el Shirghi,” or Sultan of the East. From the castle we were enabled to observe that the town stood on a plain, bounded to the southward by palms, and from east-south-east to west by the Desert. The following towns bore thus: El Glaib, south-west three or four miles; Ben Gleif, south-south-west four miles; Māfen, south-half-west eight miles; Zebbār, south four miles; and Zaitoon, south-east by east seven miles.