TRAVELS IN THE SAHARA. 269 
habitants of the country only eat in the evening. 
They sleep in mats upon the floors of their apart- 
ments, and make use of linen ; but the inhabitants 
of the country sleep upon terraces in the open air. 
The pastoral families of the country practise hos- 
pitality like those of the desert, and make the tra- 
veller pay nothing for his entertainment. In the 
towns, this practice is impossible, as the concourse 
of strangers, especially on market-days, would soon 
impoverish the inhabitants. In this manner hos- 
pitality is always extinguished among a trading and 
commercial people. It is only where the super- 
fluity of commodities runs necessarily to waste, 
that it is ever practised in a great extent ; but 
where every commodity can find a market, every 
kind of property acquires a definite value, and will 
be preserved with the same care as money. 
The government of the Monselemines is repub- 
lican, and they choose new chiefs every year. In 
the time of war, the chiefs are selected indiscri- 
minately from among the natives and the fugitive 
Moors. Their authority, like that of the Sachems 
of the American Indians, terminates with the cam- 
paign ; but during this period it is absolute. The 
country is populous, and would be still more so, 
were it not the continual wars which its inhabitants 
are obliged to support against the Emperor of Ma- 
rocco. The Monselemine, richer than the subjects 
of Marocco, is always well clothed and armed. He 
