We found them invariably civil and obliging, and apparently contented with their condition; which proves how much habit will reconcile us to evils, which, to those not inured to them, would be intolerable. The “fierce impatience” which formerly characterized the Jews of the Cyrenaica has disappeared with the probability of its being successfully exerted; and poverty is now almost the only evil to which they will not quietly submit[6]. The trade of Bengazi is not, however, wholly confined to the Jews; for, besides the Bey himself, who may be considered as the first merchant, there are several other very respectable Mahometan traders[7]; the Bazaar, notwithstanding, presents little more than the articles in greatest request among the Bedouins; amongst which may be seen bundles of rusty nails, horse-shoes, musket-balls, and large flints, which form the chief objects of their visits, and are exposed for sale, on boards, at the doors of a few of the most industrious Arab inhabitants of the town, and bargained for with as much seriousness and vehemence, as if they were the most costly goods. The produce of the interior consists chiefly in corn, wool, and manteca, with which the merchants freight the different foreign vessels which purposely touch at Bengazi. This is done in preference to employing the small vessels of the country; first, because the foreign vessels are much better navigated, and secondly, because in sailing under European colours they are less liable to molestation from the Greeks. Besides these articles, oxen are well known to constitute a great portion of the trade of Bengazi, and many vessels are kept constantly employed in transporting them to Malta and other places during the summer months. If the wind prove favourable, and the passage be quickly made, the profits to all parties are great; but it sometimes happens that, from violent or contrary winds, or from the vessel being ill calculated for the cargo, and more frequently from there being too great a number of these poor animals crowded inconsiderately together, that so many oxen die from thirst and suffocation, from bruises, and occasionally from drowning, as to render the profits of the voyage very trifling. The cattle are chiefly driven from the neighbourhood of Cyrene, where their original cost is from six to eight dollars a head; some expenses, of course, are incurred on the road, but these are amply covered by the price of ten and thirteen dollars, at which sum the oxen are furnished to the captains of the bullock-vessels: the master, again, being fully compensated by a contract of about eighteen dollars a head at Malta.