Saturday, 17th.—Clear and warm. At 3 A.M. old Yargoorma came and told me the sultan wished to see me. I went, and found him alone. He asked after my health, and if my exercise in hunting had cured me of the spleen, which is considerably reduced, and I am now free from pain. He also asked after Richard, my servant; if his legs and feet had got better; a disorder of which he is also cured. The feet and ankles first swell, and cause great pain, not being able to walk; then it proceeds to the calves of the legs, knees, and thigh-joints. Purgative medicines are of little service; and the soles and ankles are so painful the patient can walk but with great difficulty, and great pain afterwards. The swelling is not like the scurvy, as on pressing the finger on the part it is attended with great pain, and does not leave a hollow after the finger is taken off. I told him of the difficulty and the impossibility it was for me to get the skin, head, and feet-bones of two wild hogs, as he wished, because my servants would not touch them if I killed them. He said he would send for two, and I might either have them skinned myself, or they would bring the skins for me. I thanked him, and said I would prefer them skinned in the woods, as, were they brought to me alive, my house would be filled with idle people, and the whole town would never leave off talking about it whenever they saw me. Good, he said, and ordered a eunuch to give orders to the hunters to bring two as soon as possible. He asked me if we eat pork? I said yes, and the flesh was very good when they were well fed; we only eat it sparingly; the fat, I said, was always used for salves. I said it was much better to eat than dogs’ flesh, which they sold publicly in the market at Tripoli; and all the great in Fezzan eat dogs’ flesh whenever they could procure it. This account Sidi Sheik, who had just come in, confirmed. The sultan said, it was strange what people would eat: in the district of Umburm, belonging to Jacoba, they eat human flesh. I said I did not think any people existed on the face of the earth that eat their own kind as food; that certainly there were some savages in different parts of the world who eat their enemies. The sultan said he had seen them eat human flesh; that on the governor of Jacoba telling him of these people, he could hardly believe it himself; but on a Tuarick being hanged for theft, he saw five of these people eat a part, with which he was so disgusted that he sent them back to Jacoba soon after. He said that whenever a person complained of sickness amongst these men, even though only a slight headach, they are killed instantly, for fear they should be lost by death, as they will not eat a person that has died by sickness; that the person falling sick is requested by some other family, and repaid when they had a sick relation; that universally when they went to war, the dead and wounded were always eaten; that the hearts were