Our journies from this place being intended to be short, we did not decamp the following morning till half an hour after sunrise, and moved on slowly between date trees, on a generally level ground, interspersed here and there with low hills formed by the wind, which had gathered and heaped a deep sand round some of the trees, so that only the top branches appeared. At two in the afternoon, we came in sight of _Zuila_, and proceeded towards the place destined for our encampment SW. of the town. SECTION IV. _Of Zuila._ _Zuila_ being a place of importance in the territory of Fezzan, and the place of residence, not only of many leading and wealthy men, but of relations to the family of the Sultan; we halted at some little distance from the town, and prepared to do the proper honours of our arrival. The merchants, their pages and slaves dressed themselves in their best apparel; and the _Sheik_ ordered his green flag to be borne before him, in honor to the _Shereefs_ who live in this place. We had scarcely formed ourselves in procession, when we perceived twenty horsemen, mounted on white horses, with a green flag carried in their centre. It was the Shereef _Hindy_, the principal man of the town, who with his eight sons and other relations, was come out to meet us: at some distance followed a great number of men and boys on foot. They joined our caravan, and we passed together near the town, with huzzas and discharge of muskets, till we reached our place of encampment and pitched our tents. Many other inhabitants then came out to us, some from curiosity, and some to barter their goods; all behaved with the greatest decorum and regularity; but the family of the _Shereef_ was distinguished by its particular complacency and politeness of manners: they wore the Tripolitan dress, but over it a fine Soudan shirt or _Tob_. The dealings of the caravan, on this occasion, were considerable, and especially with the women, who purchased various articles of ornament, in exchange for garden-stuff, milk, and poultry. _Zuila_ has received the name of _Belled-el-Shereef_, or town of the Shereefs: in former times it was an important place, and its circumference appears to have been thrice the extent of what it is now. Some of the Shereef’s family told me, that some centuries past Zuila had been the residence of the sultans, and the general rendezvous of the caravans: and even yet the voyage to Fezzan is termed, the voyage to _Seela_, by the caravan from Bornou.