The inhabitants of Wadan are sheerefs, who are the pretended descendants of the prophet, and form the bulk of the resident population, and Arabs of the tribe _Moajer_, who spend the greater part of the year with their flocks in the Syrtis.

A few miles eastward of the town, there is a chain of mountains, which, as well as the town itself, derives its name from a species of buffalo called _wadan_, immense herds of which are found there.

The wadan is of the size of an ass, having a very large head and horns, a short reddish hide, and large bunches of hair hanging from each shoulder, to the length of eighteen inches or two feet; they are very fierce.

There are two other specimens found here, the _bogra el weish_, evidently the _bekker el wash_ of Shaw, a red buffalo, slow in its motions, having large horns, and of the size of a cow; and the white buffalo, of a lighter and more active make, very shy and swift, and not easily procured.

The wadan seems best to answer to the oryx.
There are great numbers of ostriches in these mountains, by hunting of which, many of the natives subsist.