The sand flew about in such quantities, that the travellers were unable to prepare any food, and they could not even see thirty yards before them.

In the evening they encamped amid a plantation of palms, near two wells of tolerably fresh water, at a short distance from Sockna.
Of this town, which is about half-way between Tripoli and Mourzouk, Captain Lyon gives the following description:-- Sockna stands on an immense plain of gravel, bounded to the south by the Soudah mountains, at about fifteen miles; by the mountains of Wadam, about thirty miles to the eastward; a distant range to the west, and those already mentioned on the north.

The town is walled, and may contain two thousand persons.

There are small projections from the walls, having loop-holes for musketry.

It has seven gates, only one of which will admit a loaded camel.