The language of the Tuaricks is harsh and guttural; but it has great strength, and is evidently expressive. That at least is the opinion we were led to form, with our imperfect knowledge. The want of books, and the little attention paid to cultivating a language, must tend to keep it in a very imperfect state. The sedate character of the Tuarick seems to be a firm barrier against the muses. The males seldom sing; it is considered an amusement fit only for females. Their songs were described to us as sweet. We never heard one repeating any poetical lines. The people have good sound sense, and give more distinct accounts of what they have seen than I have received from the Moorish merchants. They would be a shining people, were they placed in more favourable situations. On almost every stone in places they frequent, the Tuarick characters are hewn out. It matters nothing whether the letters are written from the right to the left, or _vice versa_, or written horizontally. LETTERS. [Symbol: ⵜ] Yet. [Symbol: ⵌ] Yuz. [Symbol: ⵗ] Yuk. [Symbol: ⵣ] Iz. [Symbol: ⵆ] Yugh. [Symbol: H-like] [Symbol: ⵓ] Yow [Symbol: W-like] Yew. [Symbol: ⴰ] A. [Symbol: ⴷ] Yid. [Symbol: ⵀ] Yib. [Symbol: northern (square) variant of ⵔ] Yir. [Symbol: ⵙ] Yes. [Symbol: ⵢ] Yei. [Symbol: ⵎ] Yim. [Symbol: ⴶ] Yigh. [Symbol: ⴺ] Yish. [Symbol: ⵏ] Yin. [Symbol: ⵍ] Yill. These characters will be sufficient to enable the learned to trace the connexion of the language with others that are now extinct. Here we have no opportunity of making inquiries into this important subject. Note. The rest of the Journal, describing their return to Mourzuk, is wholly uninteresting, and is therefore omitted. =RECENT DISCOVERIES= IN =AFRICA.= * * * * * CHAPTER I. FROM MOURZUK TO KOUKA IN BORNOU. On the evening of the 29th of November we left Mourzuk, accompanied by nearly all those of the town, who could muster a horse: the camels had moved early in the day, and at Zezow we found the tents pitched—there are here merely a few huts. From Zezow to Traghan there is a good high road, with frequent incrustations of salt, and we arrived there before noon. It is a clean walled town, one of the best of one hundred and nine, of which Fezzan is said to boast. Traghan was formerly as rich as Mourzuk, and was the capital and residence of a sultan, who governed the eastern part of Fezzan, whose castle, in ruins, may still be seen.