Having therefore waited until the arrival of the “rekás,” or courier, in order to obtain the most recent news, and having in consequence of their unfavourable tenor been induced to increase the wages of my camel drivers, whom I had hired previously, I at length got off on the 12th of August. Pursuing the track called Trík el Merhóma, which was never before traversed by a European, and, passing by the wells El Hammám, El Maráti, Ershidíye, and Gedafíye, and then by the narrow Wádí Ghirza (the place once the great object of African research for Lieutenant now Admiral Smyth), with its interesting ancient sepulchres in the form of obelisks, we reached Wádí Zemzem on the 19th. Here there was a considerable encampment of Arabs, and some of the ringleaders of the revolution residing here at the time, I found myself in a serious dilemma. But the English were too much respected by these tribes for them to oppose my passage, although they told me plainly, that if they suspected that the English were opposed to the revolution, they would cut my throat, as well as that of any European traveller who might fall into their hands. However, after some quiet explanations with them as to what was most conducive to their own interests, and about the probability of their succeeding in making themselves independent of the Turkish sway; and after having promised a handsome present to one of the more influential men among them, they allowed me to pass on. I had also great difficulty in hiring some fresh camels, the safety of which I guaranteed, to take me to Tripoli. I thus pursued my journey to Bení- Ulíd with its deep valley overtowered by the ruins of many a middle-age castle, and adorned by numbers of beautiful olive trees, besides being enlivened by many small villages consisting of stone dwellings half in decay. On approaching the place, I fell in with a messenger, sent very kindly to meet me by Mr. Reade, Her Majesty’s Vice-Consul in Tripoli, who, besides a few letters, brought me what was most gratifying to me in my exhausted state, a bottle of wine, a luxury of which I had been deprived for so many years. I had some little trouble in this place, as there was residing here at the time a brother of Ghóma, the rebel chief himself, who had sent an express messenger on my account; and differences of interest between the various chiefs of the place, caused me at the same time some difficulties, though, in other respects, they facilitated my proceedings. Altogether I was very glad when I had left this turbulent little community behind me, which appeared to be the last difficulty that opposed itself to my return home.