_El Makkarif, Capital of the ancient Kingdom, and now Turkish Province, of Berber.—Feb._ 28. We started this morning at seven, and at ten passed the large village of El Abadieh, a little below which, on the opposite side, is Engreyab; at a quarter past twelve, El Ferrakah, opposite which is Abselam; at half past twelve, El Dankel; at half past one, El Hassan (vestiges of a Saracenic castle), opposite which are the villages of Dekseet and Wady Shekeer; at half past one, the village of El Howe; at half past two, El Gadawab; at three, we passed a village called Housh, opposite which is Ellet Wady Gadallah; at a quarter past three, Mahanifa; at half past three, Dich; and at four entered the capital, Makkarif. Most of these villages are large, but many almost entirely deserted. In one of 120 houses, I counted only twenty that were inhabited. This is occasioned, not only by a decrease of population, but also by the wretched state of poverty to which the Berbers are now reduced. Many families who had formerly two, three, and even six houses, are obliged to content themselves with one, allowing the others to fall into ruin from not having the means or inducement to repair them. If still possessed of any wealth, their only means of preserving it, or, at all events, of transmitting it to their posterity, is to keep it secret; and by an affectation of poverty, lull any suspicion that may arise of their possessing treasure. Notwithstanding what I am told of their hidden wealth, I should suspect the examples to be few: the real distress is unfortunately far too evident. The houses are scattered, and often at a considerable distance from each other; never crowded together, like the cottages in the villages of Egypt. Being shaded by the graceful doum and acacia trees, they produce a rural and sometimes picturesque effect. According to the ancient divisions, we have only been this day in the province of Berber. Since we reached El Ferrakah, the character of the country has been quite different; more villages, a richer soil, and even the desert thickly studded with trees like a shrubbery. The country between Abou-Hammed and Grenata is included in the Turkish province of Berber, and as such I have described it. The natives are the Rabatat, once the terror of caravans. The heavy exactions they imposed on all travellers, or rather merchants, obliged the latter to take the long route from Derouey to Makkarif, the same in which Burckhardt and Bruce suffered so severely. The manners of the Rabatat seemed rougher, and their depravity more open, than I observe here. CHAPTER IV.