_6th._--My turjeman complains that neither he nor the people can pay their excessive taxes; they must all be soon ruined. Yet a couple of thousand pounds per annum is nothing for a commercial city like this. He says, "If we were to cultivate our gardens, we should have more; but then the Turks would demand more, so our spirits are broken, and we are eaten up. We have no heart to work for our oppressors." Continue to read the Arabic New Testament, which aids me in colloquial disquisitions with the people. The Ghadamsee people persist in not taking medicines during the fast. One told me, "Even if a man dies, and medicine could save him, he must not take it." I have therefore fewer patients during the inexorable Ramadan. But I _save_ my tea and coffee--"An ill wind blows, &c." The Rais, however, gets his tea in the evening. It is remarkable with what willingness, and without any sort of prejudice, several of the people offer me information. Even when refused, I always find it arises from indolence to narrate it. They are not afraid that I am collecting information to supply the English Government with the means of invading their country, like some Moors in Barbary. They look upon the thing just as it is,--that I am writing a book about their country to amuse Christians. The Sheikh of the slaves came in, with several Ghadamsee youths:-- "The Governor says, you are not the Sheikh; _he_ is the Sheikh." "So, does he say?" (_The Youths._--"But the Sheikh _is_ the Sheikh.") "I am," says the Sheikh, "from Timbuctoo; all the people are Mohammedans, and fast. Do you fast?" _I._--"I eat and drink what is good at all times, even wild-boar." _The Sheikh and Youths._--"Oh, wonderful!" _They._--"You write Arabic?" I wrote that God was _one_. _They._--"And write Mahomet was the Prophet of God?" I wrote Mahomet was the Prophet of the Arabs and the Touaricks? _The Sheikh._--"Ah, ah, I see, I see, you're very cunning." _The Youths._--"Who is your Prophet?" _I._--"Aysa (Jesus)." _The Youths._--"Have you any books of your Prophet?" _I._--"Yes, here is one:" (Giving them the New Testament.) _They._--"Oh, see, let us read it, let us take it home." _I._--"No; if you were men, yes. But if I allow you to read it, or read it to you, your Bey and the people will be offended with me, and send me out of the city. When you go to Tripoli, you can see and read the Christian books." I was surprised that a well-informed man like the Sheikh Makouran should ask me whether the Emperor of Morocco was also Emperor of Fez, and whether Morocco was a large country. "Ghat," says the Rais, "like all the Touarick countries, is a republic. All the people govern." Walked out this evening for the first time to-day. The people are vehement in their complaints against the oppressions of the Turks: "All the wealth of the country is dried up, and the merchants are all running away. We are ruined unless the English save us."