Had a long conversation with a Touarick about a journey to Timbuctoo. I offered him five hundred dollars to escort me; but, to deposit the money in the hands of the Governor of Ghadames, or a respectable merchant, till my and his safe return. Said I would take nothing with me but medicines, and a little provision, and go in _formâ pauperis_, as a dervish or doctor. All the Ghadamsee people present approved this way of going, and admired its wisdom, as removing all temptation to attack me, or to steal anything from me when I had nothing to steal. But the Touarick could not come up to the scratch, and was frightened to take upon himself the responsibility, observing, "You are a Christian; the people of Timbuctoo will kill you unless you confess Mahomet to be the prophet of God." Dined this evening with the Rais. His Excellency said: "Formerly, when Ghadames was governed by the Moorish Bashaws, the people paid little or nothing. There are but three or four rich persons now here, the rest are poor, or have only a few mahboubs to carry on a petty trade." At night, the streets are enveloped in pitch darkness, whether the moon be up or not. I endeavoured to persuade the Rais to make the people light up the town with a few lamps, having oil enough in them to last till midnight. "Good," he observed, "but the people say it was always so, and it must be so still. What can I do?" There are no coffee-houses in Ghadames; people drink coffee inside their houses. I threatened the merchants to set up Said as a _kahwagee_, (coffee-house keeper). They laughed, and said, "None will buy." For conversation people collect in groups round shops, in the _Souk_, or in little squares near the mosques, where there are many stone benches for reclining on, or in some quiet dark nook and corner, where, when you expect to find no one, you fall foul of a retired circle of gossips, squatting down in utter darkness. These Saharan streets are veritable catacombs. _1st September._--This morning, wonderful! It broke with a few drops of rain; to me most pleasant, and welcomed as falling pearls of nectar. At noon the sky became as dry and inflamed as ever. Went to the Spring early to bathe. Found it surrounded with women, nearly all half-castes and female slaves. They pretended to be in a great fright, as all were washing and dabbling in the water. I came away. A man said, "The Christian must not go to the well in the morning, but only in the evening." There seems to be a tacit understanding, that from day-break to a couple of hours afterwards, the women shall have possession of the well, for purification purposes, according to the rites of religion.