In that division of Africa which lies to the North of the Niger, the season for travelling begins with the month of October, and terminates with the month of March. During this period, the temperature of the air, though strongly affected by the degree of latitude, the elevation of the land, the distance of the sea, and the direction of the wind, is comparatively cool; and in some places, as in the neighbourhood of Mount Atlas, and on the Coasts of the Mediterranean, occasionally exhibits the phenomena of an European Winter. At Tripoli, the Thermometer is sometimes seen at the 40th degree of Farenheit’s scale, and on the 31st of December, in the year 1788, was observed, at nine in the morning, to have fallen within four degrees of the freezing point; a coldness that was followed by a light shower of snow. In all countries, the animals which Nature and the attention of man have provided for the conveyance of the Traveller, and for the transit of his merchandize, are suited to the character of [Sidenote: Imhammed and Ben Alli.]the soil, and to the smoothness or inequality of its surface. Of the soil of Africa, to the North of the Niger, the prevailing character is sand; and though in the neighbourhood of rivers, and in all those districts which receive from the adjacent mountains, the advantage of numerous springs, the sand is blended with a vegetable mould, yet the ground, in general, is remarkably soft and dry. In general, too, the surface of the land, though in some places broken by naked rocks, and swelling, in others, to mountains of considerable magnitude, may be regarded as comparatively level. To such a country the camel is peculiarly suited; for his broad and tender foot, which slides on a wet surface, and is injured by the resistance of stones, is observed to tread with perfect security and ease on the dry and yielding sand: and while, from the same circumstances in its structure, his hoof is incapable of fastening, with any strength, on the ground of a steep ascent, and furnishes, in a shelving declivity, no solid or sufficient support, his movement on a smooth and level surface is singularly firm and safe. [Sidenote: Imhammed.] So remarkably exemplified in Africa is that rule in the œconomy of Nature which suits the beast of burthen to the land which it inhabits, that in the country which lies to the South-West of the Niger, where the surface is mountainous, and the ground is as stony in some places, as it is wet and muddy in others, no camels are found. Their place is supplied by small horses, asses, and mules. [Sidenote: Lucas.] The proper burthen for a camel varies with its strength, which is very different in different species of the animal. In the dominions of Tripoli, a common load is from three to four hundred weight; and the medium expence of the conveyance for each hundred appears to be one farthing per mile. [Sidenote: Lucas.] [Sidenote: Imhammed.]