516 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LXIX. 
Mohammed el e Aish, I bought two measures (neffek) 
and a half of the kind called tin-aser for 4000 shells ; 
for the " tin-ak6r," the most celebrated species of dates 
from Tawat, were not to be procured at this time.* 
As for tobacco, I did not care a straw about it, and in 
this respect I might have been on the very best terms 
with my fanatical friends, the Fiilbe of Hamda-AUahi, 
who offer such a determined opposition to smoking 
upon religious principles. In a commercial respect, 
however, tobacco forms a more important article in 
the trade of Timbuktu than dates, although refined 
smokers here prefer the tobacco of Wadi-Nun to that 
of Tawat. But even these had an opportunity of 
gratifying their inclination at this season, for only 
two days after the arrival of the Tawati caravan, a 
small troop of Tajakant traders, with eighty camels, 
entered the town. The feud which raged between the 
different sections of this tribe, which, as I stated before, 
chiefly keeps up the commercial relations of Timbuktu 
with the north, on the one hand, and the war raging 
between the whole of this tribe and the E'rgebat on 
the other, interrupted at this time almost entirely 
the peaceable intercourse between Timbuktu and the 
southern region of Morocco. 
The arrival of these people enabled me to purchase 
* The other kinds of dates of Tawat are : A'hartan, Tigaze, 
Tazarzay, Tin-wariggeli, Tedemamet, Bu-Makhluf, Tin-kasseri, 
Tin-dokan, Tin-nijdel, Tilimsu, Timbozeri, Adikkeli, Gofagiis, 
Daggelet-nur. The district of Aulef is the most famous for its 
dates. 
