We crossed a range of hills into another plain, at the extremity of which lies Ghafsa.  The surface was naked, with the exception of tufts of strong, rushy grass, almost a sure indication of hares, and of which we started a great number.  We saw another description of bird, called rhaad, [36] with white wings, which flew like a pigeon, but more swiftly.  Near our tract were the remains of a large tank of ancient Roman construction.  The Bey shot a fox.  Marched fourteen or fifteen miles to Zwaneah, which means “little garden,” though there is no sign of such thing, unless it be the few oranges, dates, and pomegranates which they find here.  We had water from a tank of modern construction; some remains were close to the camp, the ancient cistern and stone duct leading from the hills.  We had two thousand camels with the camp and following it, for which not a single atom of provender is carried, the camels subsisting scantily upon the coarse grass, weeds or thorns, which the soil barely affords.  The camel is very fond of sharp, prickly thorns.  You look upon the animal, with its apparently most tender mouth, chopping the sharpest thorns it can find, full of amazement!  Some of the chiefs who have lately joined us, have brought their wives with them, riding on camels in a sort of palanquin or shut-up machine.  These palanquins have a kind of mast and shrouds, from which a bell is slung, tinkling with the swinging motion of the camel.  This rude contrivance makes the camel more than ever “the ship of the Desert.”  Several fine horses were brought in as presents to the Bey, one a very fine mare.

Our next march was towards Ghafsa, about twenty miles off.  We were joined by a considerable number of fresh Arabs, who “played at powder,” and kept firing and galloping before the Bey the whole day; some of them managed themselves and their arms and horses with great address, balancing the firelock on their heads, firing it, twisting it round, throwing it into the air, and catching it again, and all without once losing the command of their horses.  An accident happened amidst the fun; two of the parties came in contact, and one of them received a dreadful gash on the forehead.  The dresses of some of them were very rich, and looked very graceful on horseback.  A ride over sand-hills brought us in view of the town, embedded in olive and date-trees, looking fresh and green after our hot and dusty march; it lay stretched at the foot of a range of hills, which formed the boundaries of another extensive plain.

We halted at Ghafsa, [37] which is almost a mass of rubbish filled with dirty people, although there are plenty of springs about, principally hot and mineral waters.  Although the Moors, by their religion, are enjoined the constant use of the bath, yet because they do not change their linen and other clothes, they are always very dirty.  They do not, however, exceed the Maltese and Sicilians, and many other people of the neighbourhood, in filth, and perhaps the Moors are cleaner in their hahits than they.  The Arabs are extremely disgusting, and their women are often seen in a cold winter’s evening, standing with their legs extended over a smoky wood fire, holding up their petticoats, and continuing in this indelicate position for hours together.