EL- AR AW AN. 
99 
The roofs are flat ; instead of the small pieces of wood, 
which are used in the buildings at Timbuctoo, they here 
substitute the stalks of a bullrush which grows in the neigh- 
bourhood of the town. Thin rafters of ronnier wood sup- 
port these reeds, which are slightly covered with sand. 
The magazines are very small. The houses are all of very 
frail construction, and their number may be five hundred, 
each containing about six inhabitants, including slaves. 
Before the doors is sprinkled a yellow kind of sand, which 
is found by digging to a certain depth. 
El-Arawan, like Timbuctoo, possesses no resources of 
its own. It is the entrepot of the salt of Toudeyni, which 
is exported to Sansanding, on the banks of the Dhioliba. 
Its soil is even more barren than that of Timbuctoo, As 
far as the eye can reach, no trace of vegetation is to be per- 
ceived. The camels of the numerous caravans have to go a 
great distance for forage. Wood is so scarce, that nothing- 
is burned but camel-dung, which is carefully collected by 
the slaves. This is the only fuel used even for cooking. 
The Moors collect their camels every six days, in order to 
take them to drink at the wells, which are in the environs of 
the town. These wells are about sixty paces deep. They em- 
ploy a camel to draw up the bucket, which is made of hide. 
A pulley is also used. The water of these wells is brackish, 
warm, and very unwholesome. The springs are numerous. 
At the depth of four feet from the surface is found a grey 
sand mixed with a little clay of the same colour. This 
sand is tolerably firm. At the bottom of the pits there is a 
very white kind of earth, resembling chalk, of which I car- 
ried away a specimen. There are also some black and grey 
pebbles, and a small quantity of calcareous stones, of which 
the Moors make a brim round the wells. The place in 
which they are dug is flat, and surrounded by large hillocks 
of sand. I have often seen the Moors employed in watering 
their camels. They have a trough of tanned hide, which 
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