498 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXIX. 
as they themselves did, it seemed to me that we were 
nearer to each other than he thought, and might well 
be friends, offering to each other those advantages 
which each of us commanded. 
We then came to speak about their history. I 
told him that I had visited their old dwelling-places 
in Air, Tiggeda, and Tadmekka ; but he was totally 
unaware of the fanciful derivation which the Arab 
authors have given to the latter name, viz. " likeness 
of Mekka," * which probably never belonged to one 
town in particular, but has always been the name of a 
tribe. He felt, however, very much flattered by this 
piece of information, and seemed extremely delighted, 
when I told him how old the Islam was in his 
tribe. My little knowledge of these historical and 
religious matters was of invaluable service to me, 
and particularly in this instance, for obtaining the 
esteem of the natives and for overcoming their pre- 
judices ; for while this chief himself scarcely under- 
stood a single word of Arabic, so that I could only 
speak with him in very broken Temashight or Tar- 
klye, his brother, El Khattaf, was well versed in that 
language, and spoke it fluently. 
Having left the people to converse among them- 
selves, I returned to the Sheikh in the afternoon, 
taking with me a present for A'wab, consisting of a 
chequered tobe (such as I have described on a for- 
* El Bekri, ed. de Slane, p. 181. <Lj& i£=u>jt> ^J*** j 
See Cooley, " Negroland of the Arabs," p. 30, n. 52. 
