No Barbary or Negro Chief, or indeed any of their people, are able to resist a bribe; much might therefore be done by securing the good will of the Sultans of the interior kingdoms; and they might, by presents properly applied, form together such a barrier against the inroads of Mukni, as would enable them to secure their independence, and prevent the annual seizure of multitudes of their subjects. Though amongst themselves slavery might (and doubtless would) exist; yet it would not, with such arrangements, extend so far as it does at present. The blacks alone, in consequence chiefly of Mukni’s incursions, are always engaged in indemnifying themselves for the losses he occasions them. All their prisoners are sold as slaves, and the money or goods arising from such sale appropriated chiefly by the kings of the country. In Fezzan the punishment for crimes is as in Tripoli, though hanging is not commonly practised, strangling being more to the Sultan’s taste. If a man is found murdered, and the authors or instigators of his death are unknown or unconvicted, the inhabitants of the town, in or near which the body is found, are obliged to pay to the Sultan a fine of 2000 dollars. If a corpse is found on the desert with marks of violence on it, the people of the districts which border that desert must pay the requisite sum. Should the murderer return after a few months, he escapes notice, provided the penalty be paid; but this cannot be done either by the principal or his relations. Mukni was himself in this predicament some few years since, when he murdered the broker of the British consulate at Tripoli; the Bashaw affected to be ignorant of his flight, and after he had remained six months with the Arabs, allowed him to return to Tripoli, where he was as well received as if he had been an innocent man. The family of a criminal is never involved in his punishment, that is to say, they are not dishonoured or disgraced; but if the convicted person is sentenced to lose his property, all his immediate dependants are reduced to beggary. A grand-daughter of the last rightful Sultan is at this moment a common beggar; yet, while every one allows her to be noble, they are unable to relieve her, except with a little corn or some dates.