We have now left the Troglodytes behind us. Mizdah (eight summer and ten winter days from Ghadamez, three short days from Gharian, and the same from Benioleed) is built above-ground, and consists of a double village, or rather two contiguous villages, inhabited by people of the Arab race. Each division is fortified after a fashion, with walls now crumbling, and with round crenulated towers. One large tower, some fifty feet high, has stood, they say, four hundred years. I asked, What was the use of these fortifications? and was naïvely told they were for the purposes of _shamatah_, "war," or rather "rows." And true enough, before the Turks extended their power so far, these two beggarly villages, fifty miles from any neighbours, were in constant hostility one with the other. Each had its great tower, a giant among all the little towers--a kind of keep, to which the defeated party retired to recruit its strength or escape utter destruction. This is likewise the case with many other double towns of the Sahara, and seems to prove that war is the native passion and trade of man. At any rate, punishment for such turbulence has not been wanting; for in this, as in so many other cases, whilst these poor wretches were engaged in cutting one another's throats, the conqueror has come and established his tyranny. They are now paying the penalty of their love of shamatah in the shape of an impost of four hundred mahboubs per annum, and in numbers are reduced to about a hundred and thirty heads of families. We had some additional camel-drivers from Kaleebah, who, of course, endeavoured to extort more than they had agreed for. When we had squabbled with them a little, we had the honour of receiving Sheikh Omer, of Mizdah, in the tent. He came with about thirty notables of the place, the greater part of whom sat outside the doorway, whilst he stroked his beard within, indulging in a touch of eau de Cologne and a cup of coffee. We read him the circular-letter of Izhet Pasha, and received all manner of civilities. The next day, indeed, he came to us to serve as guide through the country over which he wields delegated dominion. He had not far to go. His empire is a mere pocket one. The palm-trees are about three hundred in number, and there are but half-a-dozen diminutive fields of barley ripening in the ear, fed by irrigation from several wells which supply tolerably sweet water. A few onion-beds occur in the little gardens, which are partially shaded by some small trees.