66 
THE TOOARIKS. 
and thrash it. It is so small that it does not require bruis- 
ing ; they boil it with their fish. The Tooariks cultivate 
no kind of vegetable. Their slaves are employed in tending 
their flocks and herds. They have no grain for their own 
use, except vrhat they obtain from the flotillas passing from 
Jenne to Timbuctoo. During the swell of the waters, the 
Tooariks retire a little into the interior of the country, 
where they find good pasture. They have numerous herds 
of camels, whose milk is always a certain resource for them. 
The Foulahs who live in the neighbourhood of the 
river are not kept in subjection by these savages. The 
Foulahs are very superior to the pure negro race ; they are 
full of energy, and are too brave to submit to the degrading 
yoke of the Tooariks. These Foulahs do not speak the 
Poulh language of the Fouta-Dhialon. I addressed to them 
some words in that dialect which they did not understand. 
They speak the language of Timbuctoo ; but they have also 
a particular dialect which they use among themselves. All 
those whom I saw on the banks of the river were rovers. 
I sometimes saw the camels of the Tooariks employed in 
transporting merchandise from Cabra to Timbuctoo ; but 
only the poorest among them would condescend to earn 
any thing by this sort of labour. The rich are too proud to 
work. They sell at Timbuctoo oxen and sheep for the 
usual consumption of the town. Milk is very dear and not 
so good as on the banks of the river. 
The Tooariks have, like all Mahometans, several wives. 
The largest and the fattest are the most admired. To be a 
real beauty vrith them, a woman must have such a degree of 
obesity as will render her unable to walk without two 
assistants. 
They are dressed like the Moorish women on the banks 
of the Senegal ; but instead of blue Guinea stuffs they wear 
blue pagnes, which are brought from Jenne, and which the 
merchants of Timbuctoo procure for them. Those I saw in 
