There are in the town four or five _Mectebs_, where boys are taught to read, and, if they wish it, to write. Such of the _Fukkara_ as fill the office of lecturer, instruct gratuitously the children of the indigent; but from those who are in easy circumstances they are accustomed to receive a small remuneration. Two or three lecture in the Korân, and two others in what they call _Elm_, theology. There was, at the time of my arrival, only one small mosque, a little square room, formed by walls of clay, where the _Fukkara_ were accustomed to meet thrice in the week. The _Cadi_ of the place was a certain _Faqui Abd-el-rachmân_, a man much in the decline of life, originally of _Sennaar_. He had studied at the _Jama-el-azher_ in Kahira, and was much reputed in the place for the justice and impartiality of his decisions, and the uniform sanctity of his life. He sunk under the weight of years and infirmity, during the second year after my arrival, and the charge of Cadi was committed by the monarch to another, who was almost incapacitated from executing the duties of it, as well by a painful disorder as by his great age. The more active part of the office, therefore, was discharged by his son, who was as remarkable for corruption as the _Faqui Abd-el-rachmân_ had been for integrity. Whether from indignation at this man’s unworthiness, or envy of his pre-eminence, is uncertain, a division ensued among the _Fukkara_, and part of them united under _Hassan_, part under _Bellilu_, a man said to be learned in the laws, but of a forbidding and ungracious deportment. The former, with the countenance and assistance of the Sultan, had commenced building a mosque more spacious than that above mentioned; but I observed it went on slowly, though the material for building was nothing better or more costly than clay. The area inclosed was about sixty-four feet square, and the walls were to be three feet thick. CHAP. XVIII. DAR-FÛR. _On the mode of travelling in Africa — Seasons in Dar-Fûr — Animals — Quadrupeds — Birds — Reptiles and Insects — Metals and Minerals — Plants._ One mode of travelling, with small variations, obtains through all the north of Africa. I mean by _caravans_ (from قرو _Karu_, to wander from place to place). When the inhabitants have occasion to pass the boundaries of their respective states, they form themselves into a larger or smaller body, united under one head. Their association is produced by considerations of mutual convenience and security, as even the most easy and safest of the roads they are to pass, would yet be difficult and dangerous for a single traveller.