Having reason to believe that his Mesurata rivals were willing to go on with us to Bengazi, Shekh Mahommed now brought forward his story of the robbers to deter them from accompanying us any farther; for in the event of our being surprised and overpowered, they would themselves have lost their camels as well as all they had with them. Whether this story, which the Dúbbah had taken care to have generally circulated, really frightened the men of Mesurata, or whether they thought it imprudent to make an enemy of the old Shekh at a distance from their own country, and in a part of his own, did not very clearly appear; but they soon after came to us, and declined proceeding any farther, alleging, at the same time, that Shekh Mahommed had already engaged camels for us from his own people in the neighbourhood, and that we should therefore have no occasion for theirs. We told them that we had as yet made no bargain with the Dúbbah, and that although we might wish to give him an opportunity, as our friend and conductor, of making a fair profit of his camels, we should certainly not accept them if we found that his demands were unreasonable. Finding, however, that the men were really unwilling to go on, under any circumstances, though they would not state precisely the grounds of their objection, we settled our accounts with them, giving each a few piastres in addition to what had been agreed for, as an acknowledgment of their good behaviour, and they shortly after set out on their return to Mesurata. Before their departure, however, we sent for Shekh Mahommed, and told him the number of camels we should have occasion for; stating, at the same time, the sum we intended to pay him for them, to which, after some little parley, he consented. The next morning he made his appearance in our tent, and said that the camels would be brought to us immediately, but that the men whom they belonged to, on estimating the weight of our baggage, had refused to carry it so long a journey, unless we would consent to take twenty-five instead of eighteen camels, (the number we had mentioned to him on the preceding evening,) and which was fully sufficient for the whole of our baggage. To this proposal, however, we gave a very decided negative, and a long parley, ensued in which the Dúbbah went through the whole gamut of Arab vociferation, accompanying each tone with its appropriate gestures, and expressing himself with an energy which almost amounted to frenzy. The whole strength of the Dúbbah’s lungs, with all his powers of gesticulation, were, however, unable to convince us that his proposal was a reasonable one; although it must be confessed, in justice to his logic, that no poissard ever screamed louder, and that the most accomplished Neapolitan buffoon could not have surpassed him in vehemence and variety of gesture.