Monday, July 21. About half an hour before sunrise, resumed our journey. We came to alum slate hills, and early in the morning passed a small conical hill called Boukra, or Father of the Foot, where the people of kafilas passing amuse themselves by hopping over it; and he who does that best, is considered least exhausted by the journey. Near this there are a few hills, among which a serpent as large as a camel is said to reside. The Targee is superstitious and credulous in the extreme; every hill and cave has something fabulous connected with it. About mid-day entered the boundaries of the Tuarick country. It is by a small narrow pass over alum slate hills into a sterile sandy valley. At a distance the Tuarick hills, running north and south, not table-topped like those we have left, but rising in numerous peaks and cones. There are here in the vicinity a number of sand hills; and all the valleys are bounded by low alum slate hills, and recently formed fixed sand hills. Sulphate of barytes in several places. About eight, arrived at Ludinat. The name of the wadey is Sardalis. On a small eminence near us is an old ruinous building, foolishly thought by the people here to be of Jewish origin; although from its structure, it is evidently Arabian. A large spring issues from the middle, and pours out water sufficient to irrigate a large space of ground. It opens into a large basin; the temperature of the water is consequently influenced by the soil and the sun’s rays. Abundant crops of grain might be reared by an industrious people; but the Tuaricks are no agriculturists, and the small cultivated spots are wrought by Fezzaneers. The Tuaricks of the country have a sovereign contempt for inhabitants of cities and cultivators of ground. They look upon them all as degenerated beings. A wide-spreading tree grows near this castle, under which gold is said to be deposited. The accounts are, that the father of the present maraboot, a man renowned for his sanctity, destroyed the writings that pointed out the place. The grave of this Mahometan saint is near, and so revered, that people passing deposit what they consider superfluous; and always find it safe on their return. Thus there is not to be found a Tuarick or Arab so courageous as to violate this sanctuary. The inhabitants are thinly scattered; and we could only observe here and there a few grass houses. The water of the spring is excellent. A few sheep are in the valley, and we were able to buy a tolerably good one from the maraboot.