34 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXX. 
who exercises at the same time a very considerable 
political influence ; and the wealthiest merchants from 
Morocco besides him, during the time of my stay, were 
El Mehedi, the astronomer, Mula 'Abd e' SaMm, the 
nobleman, and my friend the Sweri : while among the 
Ghadamsi merchants, Mohammed ben Taleb, Sniisi 
ben Kydri, Mohammed I.ebbe-Lebbe, Haj 'AH ben 
Shawa, and Mohammed Weled el Kddhi, were those 
most worth mentioning. 
But to apply even to these first-rate merchants a 
European standard of wealth would be quite errone- 
ous, the actual property of none of them exceeding 
probably 10,000 dollars, and even that being rather an 
exceptional case. Scarcely any of them transact busi- 
ness on a large scale, the greater part of them being 
merely agents for other merchants residing in Gha- 
ddmes, Swera (Mogador), Merakesh (Morocco), and 
Fas. 
The greater part of the European merchandise comes 
by way of Swera, where several European merchants 
reside, and from this quarter proceeds especially the 
common red cloth, which, together with calico, forms 
one of the chief articles of European trade brought 
into the market. All the calico which I saw bore 
the name of one and the same Manchester firm, 
printed upon it in Arabic letters. But I am quite 
unable, either with respect to this article or any other, 
to give an account of the quantity brought into market. 
All the cutlery in Timbuktu is of English workman- 
ship. Tea forms a standard article of consumption 
