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 charmed by the beauties of the place, commanded his tents to be pitched, resolving to spend a few days in pleasure at that calm and delightful solitude. The mountain itself is rugged, and well clothed with woods of oak and pine. Among these, remote from all human intercourse, are the dwellings of numerous hermits, who subsist upon such wild productions of the earth as the place supplies; and here and there scattered among the rocks were great numbers of Mohammedan altars, fountains of water, and ruins of ancient edifices. Near the base of the mountain there was an extensive lake, resembling that of Volsinia in Italy, swarming with prodigious numbers of eels, pikes, and other species of fish, some of which are unknown in Europe. Mohammed, the Fezzan king, now gave orders for a general attack upon the fish of the lake. In a moment, turbans, vests, and nether garments, the sleeves and legs being tied at one end, were transformed into nets, and lowered into the water; and before their owners could look round them pikes were struggling and eels winding about in their capacious breeches. Meanwhile, nineteen thousand horses, and a vast number of camels, plunged into the lake to drink, so that, says Leo, by a certain figure of speech not at all uncommon among travellers, there was scarcely any water left; and the fish were stranded, as it were, in their own dwellings. The sport was continued for eight days; when, being tired of fishing, Mohammed gave orders to explore the recesses of the mountain. The borders of the lake were covered by extensive groves of a species of pine-tree, in which an incredible number of turtle-doves had built their nests; and these, like the fishes of the lake, became the prey of the army. Passing through these groves, the prince and all his troops ascended the mountain. Leo the while keeping close to his majesty among the doctors and courtiers; and as often as they passed by any little chapel,