Dec. 29th. Therm. 2°. 30′. At 7.45. A.M. we left the well, and passing over an uneven country, arrived at 9.30. at a few scattered palms, and the wells of Wūdakaire, where we found the water excellent, when compared with that of Morzouk. Having previously heard from our attendants that it was particularly clear, I carried a small tin pot at my saddle-bow, and a paper containing a little tea, with which I hoped to regale myself. In this I was not disappointed, and was content to obtain the luxury, even though destitute of its usual auxiliaries, milk and sugar, articles which had now become almost unknown to us. Proceeded S. 50°. W. At 2. the camels arrived at the gardens, and we went on to the town of Gatrone, where we arrived at 3°. 30′. At 4.50. the camels came in, having made twenty miles. Besheer and Belford having stopped at Gatrone gardens to water their horses, I rode into the town with Kaid Saad, alone, which greatly mortified him, as he wished me to have made my entrance with four horses abreast, thinking it would look more dignified, and in character for such a great person as myself. He was astonished when I told him, that even the Sultan of my country was neither ashamed nor afraid to ride unattended, and that his soldiers never rode or fired before him on his entering a town. This he wisely supposed must be owing to the excellence of our gunpowder, which our king would not suffer to be wasted unnecessarily. We put up at the house of a Tibboo woman: it had a garden and palms in front, and stood at a short distance from the walls of the town. Gatrone is surrounded by sand hills, on which are built the low palm huts of the Tibboo, who appear to form a separate community; the people within the walls pretending to call themselves Fezzanners, although the language of Bornou is more generally spoken than the Arabic. As this was the evening of the feast of Milood, Mohammed’s birth-day, every thing promised a gay meeting, and the young Tibboo girls were adorned for the occasion in all their finery. These females are light and elegant in form, and their graceful costume, quite different from that of the Fezzanners, is well put on. They have aquiline noses, fine teeth, and lips formed like those of Europeans; their eyes are expressive, and their colour is of the brightest black: there is something in their walk, and erect manner of carrying themselves, which is very striking. Their feet and ankles are delicately formed, and are not loaded with a mass of brass or iron, but have merely a light anklet of polished silver or copper, sufficient to show their jetty skin to more advantage; they wear also neat red slippers. [Illustration: _Drawn from Life by G. F. Lyon._ _On Stone by M. Gauci._ TIBBOO WOMAN IN FULL DRESS. _London. Published by J. Murray Albemarle St. Feb.1.1821._ _C. Hullmandel’s Lithography._]