ben-weleed

Updated: June 23, 2025

The Blacks, Moors, and Arabs all eat it with gusto. There are several varieties of edible seed brought over The Desert from Soudan, chiefly as Saharan luxuries. Had a long conversation with the people of the Ben-Weleed, and found them extremely sociable. One of them had been to Leghorn, and described the houses as seven stories high, and the port free. These were his strongest impressions.

James Richardson - Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846

The Rais and myself, reside without the boundaries of their respective quarters, so that we can be visited by both parties, who often meet together accidentally in our houses. The Arab suburb is also neutral ground. Most of the poor strangers take up their residence here. The Ben-Wezeet have four streets and the Ben-Weleed three.

James Richardson - Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846

I had to-day some talk about the two great political factions, the Ben-Wezeet and the Ben-Weleed, the Whigs and Tories of Ghadames, but pushed to such extremities of party spirit, as almost to be without the limits of humanity.

James Richardson - Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846

MORNING spent in spelling the Malta Times. Saw a Ben-Wezeetee, who protested that all the money of the country was in the hands of the Ben-Weleed. I asked if he ever went to the Ben-Weleed. "For what," he replied angrily, "should I go to see those devils?"

James Richardson - Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846