All the people are astonished when I tell them the British Sovereign is a lady. They have enough to believe it; indeed, some of them do not, and think I am trifling with their credulity. It goes against the grain, and their grain especially, to be ruled over by a woman, (though many of them, from my own personal knowledge, are entirely under the influence of their wives _in private_, as all or most men are,) and is contrary to all their notions of government and womankind. I was surrounded with a group when the information was given, and I shall just mention the questions which were put to me in rapid succession. "Does that woman _govern well_?" "Has she a husband? What does her husband?" "Has she any children?" "Is she a big woman?" "Is she beautiful?" "How much does she pay you for coming to our country?" "Who has more power, she or the Sultan (of Constantinople)?" "What's her name?" "Have the Christians any other women who govern?" And so forth. I explained to them that Spain and Portugal were ruled by two other Queens, but that, in France, a Queen never reigns. At the mention of this latter fact, there was general murmur of approbation, "El-Francees ândhom _âkel_ (the French have wisdom)." To soften the matter down a little, and abate their prejudices, I told them the father of the Queen of England had no sons, and in all such cases, if there were daughters, these were allowed to govern the people. "Batel (stupid)," said one fellow, and the conversation dropped. Begin to like the place, as I find I can pick up information respecting the interior. The merchants seem now more disposed to assume the responsibility of taking me with them. Went through the market-place, and witnessed a sitting of judgment upon a sick camel. This was an affair of the Kady, a little, fat, chubby, cherub-looking fellow, but proud and silent. The people said he was _sagheer_, "young," and excused his uncanonical conduct. He sat, high placed on a stone-bench, amidst a semicircle of people, squatting on the ground. He looked very grave, now exchanging a word or half syllable with one, now with another, but continually moving his lips as if in prayer. I met him afterwards in the street, and always found him moving the lips, with his rosary of black Mecca beads in his hands. He holds a separate and independent jurisdiction from the Rais, and is the Archbishop or Pope of Ghadames. His decision cannot be annulled by the authorities in Tripoli, but must be referred to the Ulemas at Constantinople. He therefore thinks not a little of himself, and with reason. Four questions were now before the Kady, embracing physic, law, and divinity. 1st. To whom did the camel belong (for the Arabs disputed this)? 2nd. Could it recover from its sickness, or was it incurable? 3rd. Whether it should be killed, if it could not be cured? 4th. Whether it should be eaten after it was killed?