234 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 



at home more than four months in the year. They are 

 black, though without the negro features ; the men ugly, 

 but the young females possessed of some beauty, not wholly 

 obscured by the embellishments of coral stuck in the nose, 

 and of oil streaming over the face. They are besides a 

 gay, good-humoured, thoughtless race, with all the African 

 passion for the song and the dance ; which last they prac- 

 tise gracefully, and with movements somewhat analogous to 

 the Grecian. This cheerfulness appears wonderful consi- 

 dering the dreadful calamity with which they are threatened 

 every day. Once a year, or oftener, an inroad is made by 

 their fierce neighbours, the Tuaricks, who spare neither age 

 nor sex, and sweep away all that comes within their reach. 

 The cowardly Tibboos dare not even look them in the face ; 

 they can only mount to the top of certain steep rocks with 

 flat summits and perpendicular sides, near one of which 

 every village is built. They carry up with them every 

 thing that can be removed, and this rude defence avails 

 against still ruder assailants. The savage Tuaricks, again, 

 were observed by Clapperton and Oudney in a journey to 

 the westward from Mourzouk, and were found in their pri 

 vate character to be frank, honest, and hospitable. The 

 females are neither immured nor oppressed, as is usual 

 among rude and Mohammedan tribes, but meet with notice 

 and respect ; indeed, the domestic habits of this nation 

 have much resemblance to the European. They are a com- 

 pletely wandering race of shepherds and robbers, holding 

 in contempt all who live in houses and cultivate the ground ; 

 yet they are, perhaps, the only native Africans who have 

 letters and an alphabet, which they inscribe, not on books 

 and parchments indeed, but on the dark rocks that checker 

 the surface of their territory ; and in places where they 

 have long resided every stone is seen covered with their 

 writings.* 



Bilma, the capital of the Tibboos, was found a mean town 

 with walls of earth, but surrounded by numerous lakes 

 containing the purest salt, the most valuable of all articles 

 for the commerce of Soudan. The inhabitants, however, 

 though deeply mortified, durst not prevent the powerful 

 Tuaricks from lading their caravans with it, and under- 



* Th« group in the accompRnyins plate consists of a Tuarick on liia 

 camel, wiih a uale.and female Tibbuo standing beside liim. 



