Chap. LXX. ARTICLES OF EUROPEAN COMMERCE. 35 
with the Arabs settled in and around the town ; for 
the natives it is rather too expensive a luxury. 
A feature which greatly distinguishes the market 
of Timbuktu from that of Kano, is the almost entire 
absence of that miserable kind of silk, or rather 
refuse, "twani" and " kundra,'^ which forms the staple 
article in the market of Kan6. Other articles also 
of the delicate Nuremberg manufacture are entirely 
wanting in this market : such as the small round 
looking-glasses, called " lemma," which some time 
ago had almost a general currency in Kan6. The 
market of Timbuktu, therefore, though not so rich in 
quantity, surpasses the rival market of Kano in the 
quality of the merchandise. Berniises, or Arab 
cloaks, furnished with a hood, also seem to be dis- 
posed of here to a considerable extent, although they 
must form too costly a dress for most of the officers at 
the courts of the petty chiefs, in the reduced state of 
all the kingdoms hereabouts ; and at all events they 
are much more rarely seen here than in the eastern 
part of Negroland. These berniises of course are 
prepared by the Arabs and Moors in the north, but 
the cloth is of European manufacture. The calico 
imported constitutes a very important article. It 
is carried from here up the country as far as 
Sansandi, although in the latter place it comes into 
competition with the same article which is brought 
from the western and south-western coasts. 
Among the Arab merchandise tobacco forms a con- 
siderable article of consumption, especially that pro- 
D 2 
