Being annoyed at our delay here, I accompanied two of Mr. Richardson’s people and the young son of Yusuf Mukni, who wished to go into the town to buy a fowl. We were followed by two men from among the townspeople, who wanted to extort a present from me, and one of whom, by bawling out the characteristic phrase of his creed, made me fear lest he might succeed in exciting all the people against me. The town was distant from our encampment a mile and a quarter; and having once reached its wall, I determined to enter it. The town, or ágherim, forms a tolerably regular quadrangle, on an open piece of ground at the eastern foot of the sandy eminence, and is enclosed by a wall (agadór), built of clay, about five-and-twenty feet high, and provided with quadrangular towers. We entered it by the eastern gate, which, being defended by a tower, has its entrance from the side, and leads first to a small court with a well, from which another arched passage leads into the streets. Here several women, of good figure and decently dressed, were seated tranquilly, as it seemed, enjoying the cool air of the afternoon, for they had no occupation, nor were they selling anything. Although I was dressed in a common blue Sudán shirt, and tolerably sunburnt, my fairer complexion seemed to alarm them, and some of them withdrew into the interior of the houses crying “Lá ilah.” Still I was not molested nor insulted by the people passing by, and I was pleased that several of them courteously answered my salute. They were apparently not of pure Berber blood. It appeared that a good many of the inhabitants had gone to their date-groves to look after the harvest, as the fruit was just about to ripen; hence the place, though in good repair and very clean, had a rather solitary appearance. There is no commerce in this place as in Ghát, the whole wealth of the inhabitants consisting in their plantations. Yet they are said to be better off than the population of Ghát, who are exposed to great and continual extortions from the Tuarek on account of their origin, while the people of Bárakat enjoy certain privileges. The houses were all two or three storeys high, and well built, the clay being nicely polished. A few palm-trees decorate the interior of the town. It is of still more diminutive size than Ghát, containing about two hundred houses; but it is built with great regularity. Having stuck fast awhile in a lane which had no thoroughfare, we at length got safely out of the little town of Bárakat by the south gate. It has, I believe, four gates, like Ghát. On this side of the town, inside of the walls, stands the mosque, a building of considerable size for so small a place, neatly whitewashed, and provided with a lofty minaret.