Their Burials have nothing remarkable; the body being merely put into a shell, which is covered with a cloth, having sentences of the Koran worked round the edges. The friends of the deceased follow in a hurried manner, singing verses and religious sentences. The grave of a man is as usual distinguished by a pillar of stone, having a turban carved on it, placed at the head. The funerals of women are in some cases far more interesting, and are conducted with a considerable degree of pomp and ceremony. One instance of this, I witnessed myself. It was the daughter of the Minister, and grand-daughter of the Bashaw, whom I saw carried to the grave. Her coffin was covered with a rich purple cloth, embroidered with gold, and having large golden characters from the Koran sewed on it. At the head was placed a large nosegay of the choicest and most beautiful flowers; the clothes and many costly ornaments of the deceased were laid on the coffin; and the accumulation of rich waistcoats, shirts, caps, &c. had a most splendid effect. The mourners carried bunches of flowers in their hands, and, in contrast to the shining decorations of the bier, were dressed in soiled and old clothes, without antimony on their eyelids, and, in fact, studiously avoiding the use of any ornaments. The Minister himself headed the procession, and although not in general considered a man of very acute feelings, appeared in this instance much affected. It is the custom at all funerals to liberate one or more slaves, who may at the time belong to the family of the departed; and it is equally a rule to distribute food amongst the poor, who, on these occasions, never fail to attend in great numbers. These offerings are of course regulated by the comparative wealth or poverty of the donors; but those persons are considered as most meritorious who incur the greatest expense in honour of their deceased relative. There are women whose sole employment it is to attend the house of mourning, where they howl, lament, and tear their hair and faces in a barbarous manner. Their cries continue with very little intermission during three days, and the additional din occasioned by their repeatedly beating wooden boxes or pots is truly horrible. The customs and ceremonies used on these occasions, with many other interesting subjects relating to Tripoli, are so faithfully and pleasingly described in Tully’s narrative[2], that they render any further observations on my part unnecessary. Mr. Ritchie, finding that Mukni still delayed his departure, and that some weeks might yet elapse before he commenced his journey, determined on employing the intermediate time in visiting Benioleed and the Gharian mountains. For this purpose he procured a Chowse, a person employed by the Bashaw to collect the revenues, and hired two camels to carry our provisions and baggage.