ETHNOLOGY OF THE PRESENT DAY. 231 



the Tuarik branch of the Berbers. Horneman considers the inhabitants 

 of the province Shati, as the real or main stock of the Fezzanians. They 

 are of medium growth, dusky brown, with short black hair, tolerably 

 regular features, and nose less flattened than is the case with the negroes. 

 In general the figure of the men is not handsome ; the women are 

 strikingly ugly, and both sexes are destitute of vigor and courage. They 

 are fond of singing and music ; and though they are naturally cheerful, 

 obliging, and hospitable, the oppression of the government has made them 

 inhospitable, covetous, faithless, and malicious. They have adopted the 

 Arabic language, but speak it with the rough and harsh Moghrib dialect. 

 They are nominally Mohammedans, but mingle all kinds of heathenish 

 ideas with their religion. Their chief employment is commerce ; and 

 Morzouk, the metropolis of the country, is the rallying point and market 

 for the caravans that keep up the trade of Kahira (Cairo), Benghafi, and 

 Tripoli, with Soudan. A few handicrafts, agriculture, and horticulture, are 

 also pursued in Fezzan. 



The Fezzanian dress consists of a coarse linen or cotton shirt, trowsers 

 of the same material, and sandals of camel's skin. In the street a 

 woollen covering, called abhen or dsherid, is sometimes worn like a cloak. 

 A turban and yellow slippers are sometimes put on on Fridays. Women 

 have the fronts of their chemises embroidered, and consider their head- 

 dress and the rings on the arms and feet their chief ornaments. On the 

 feet they always wear red slippers. The houses, built of sun-dried bricks, 

 are low and very uncomfortable. 



The Bisherin (Biscarijin) live in the mountains that range along the 

 Red Sea, north of Abyssinia, east of the Barabras and northwest of 

 Massowa, almost the whole distance up to Suez. They seem to be the 

 descendants of the Bega or Bedsha, who were a powerful nation in the 

 middle ages, controlling the commerce with the whole woild from both 

 sides of the Red Sea, and who in still earlier times appear to have ruled from 

 the Island of Meroe over the entire valley of the Nile as far as Assouan. 

 The Bisherin are consequently descendants from the true Ethiopians of 

 flourishing Meroe. They are divided into three sections : the true Bisherin, 

 the Hadharebe or Adareb, and the Ababdeh. They speak, however, the same 

 language ; and are very similar in physiognomy, as well as in their entire 

 exterior, to the Barabras of the Nile valley, and in part to the inhabitants 

 of Abyssinia. Their color is very dark brown, almost black, but the face 

 does not show the negro type. The nation is rapacious and warlike, and the 

 numerous small, isolated tribes, are always at enmity and war with each other. 



The Inhabitants of Egypt. 



The principal divisions of the population of Egypt are the Copts, Arabs, 

 and Turks, besides Jews, &c. The Turks constitute the smallest portion, 

 but have pre-eminence as rulers ; the Arabs are the most numerous, the 

 Copts the most ancient tribe. The Arabs are either farmers (Fellahs) 



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