Having some preparations to make for this last stage of my march, I had thus full opportunity of becoming aware of the immense difference in the prices of provisions between this outlying oasis of North Africa and Negroland, especially Kúkawa, and for the little supply which I wanted for my journey from here to Tripoli, I had to pay as much as 100 makhbúbs. Besides procuring here my necessary supplies for the road, my chief business was in discharging some of my servants, and more particularly Mohammed el Gatróni, whose fidelity I have mentioned before. I added to the small remainder of his salary which I still owed him, the stipulated present of fifty Spanish dollars, which I would willingly have doubled if I had had the means, as he well deserved it; for it is only with the most straightforward conduct and with a generous reward that a European traveller will be able to make his way in these regions. As for encountering the dangers of the road, the arrangement of the Bashá, that a party of soldiers whom he had discharged, and who were returning home, should travel in my company, seemed rather of doubtful effect; as such a company, while it afforded a little more security in certain tracts, could not fail to turn against myself the disposition of the native population in those districts where the revolt against the Turkish government was a popular movement; I was obliged therefore to leave it to circumstances to decide how I should make my way out of these difficulties. The Bashá for some time thought that the only safe course for me to pursue would be to turn my steps towards Ben-Gházi, in order to avoid the revolted district altogether. But such a plan seemed very objectionable, as well on account of the greater distance and expense of this road, as with regard to the disposition of the Arabs of that region, who, if the revolution should prove successful, would certainly not lose a moment in following the example of their brethren. [Sidenote: July 20th.] I left the town of Múrzuk in the afternoon and encamped in the plantation, and the next day moved on a short distance towards Sheggwa, where Mr. Warrington took leave of me. Halting then for the greater part of the following day near the village of Delém, and making a good stretch in the evening and the early part of the morning, we reached Ghodwa, with its pretty plantation and its many remains of former well- being. Starting again in the afternoon, and making a long stretch during the night, we encamped in the evening of the following day at the border of the plantation of Sebha, some twenty years ago the residence of the chief of the Welád Slímán. Here we staid the following day in order to obtain some rest. The heat all this time was very considerable, and the thermometer at two o’clock in the afternoon, on an average, indicated from 110° to 112°. [Sidenote: July 26th.]