_I._--"But you say, God, is ‮الرحمان الرحيم‬, (_Most merciful_.)" _He._--"Yes; but men won't obey his religion and Mahomet." _I._--"What is to become of those who never saw, nor never could see or read the Koran?" _The Taleb._--"I don't know; God is great; God must have mercy upon them." _I._--"Undoubtedly God created the world; but according to you, the world is now all corrupt (_fesad_), and nearly all men must soon be destroyed. Is this honourable to God?" _The Taleb._--"All is decreed." _I._--"But many of the unbelieving Infidels are better than the Touaricks and Arabs. Is not the British Consul in Tripoli better than a Shânbah bandit?--better than an assassin who cuts the throats of the Faithful? Do not all the people speak well of our Consul?" _The Taleb._--"I know it; he's very good." _I._--"But you can't change the religion of some people though you kill them. When the Mohammedans conquered India, they got tired of putting Hindoos to death for not changing their religion, and becoming Mussulmans." _The Taleb._--"God knows all, but you don't know," (a frequent phrase in the Koran). _I._--"Now, I don't think it's of much use to talk about religion, for you won't change yours nor I mine. Here's the end of the matter. We must all die, that's a thing no one disputes; but as to who is saved, or who perishes, we cannot tell." _The Taleb._--"The truth, by G--d! If God please, we shall see all soon." A small caravan of Arabs, bringing sheep for the _Ayed_, arrived this morning from Tunis. The route is _viâ_ Jibel Douerat, and only seven days. If the roads were safe, travelling indeed about North Africa could soon be rendered expeditious. The Arabs report:--"That great military preparations are making at Jerbah, where the Bey of Tunis is expected after the _Ayed_, and whence he will invade Tripoli, all his Arabs being ready to march with him." After this, a caravan of forty slaves arrived from the south, under the conduct of Touaricks. The _ghafalah_ is originally from Bornou, but half left for Fezzan on arriving at Ghat. Was much surprised when Rais told me this evening, after five or six days, he would send a soldier to sleep as a guard in my house. He explained he had received authentic intelligence from Souf, of the Shânbah banditti being on the march, five hundred strong, proceeding in the direction of Ghat and Ghadames, and he expected them near this in the course of ten days. Their intention is to avenge themselves on the Touaricks for the defeat last year. They are the immemorial enemies of the Touaricks, who have a stake in the commerce of the Desert, but they as professional robbers have none. Besides this, we hear the Sebâah continue their depredations, and have carried off 2,000 sheep from The Mountains: they also threaten an attack on Derge. The whole country, indeed, will soon be full of banditti, unless some energetic measures are adopted, and we shall have no communication between this and Tripoli.