THE HASSANES. 
99 
When the Moors make war upon one another, they take 
no prisoners ; if any of their enemies fall into their hands^ 
they kill them immediately^ and the spoils of the slain belong 
to the conqueror. They fight from a distance^ and only 
attack by surprise. The chiefs fight like their subjects ; 1 
have been told^ however, that when Hamet-Dou goes to war, 
he is always accompanied by one of his ministers, whose 
business it is to hold him by his coussabe and to keep him at a 
safe distance : report says the coussabe has never been torn ; 
but this may be a calumny. It is the hassanes who always 
make excursions against the negroes to pillage them, and 
carry off slaves 5 and on these occasions they are seldom 
accompanied by the zenagues. The hassanes are idle, men- 
dacious, thievish, envious, superstitious, and gluttonous ; 
they combine in short, all possible vices. An hassane who 
possesses a horse, a gun, and coussabe, thinks himself the 
happiest of mortals. Filthiness they seem to consider as 
a virtue. The men swarm with vermin, of which they 
take no pains to rid themselves. The women are disgusting; 
lying always upon their couches, with their heads besmeared 
with butter, which, being melted by the heat, runs down their 
faces and their whole bodies : they exhale in consequence a 
perfume which to Europeans is any thing but agreeable. In 
idleness they surpass the men, for they will not even rise to 
take their food, but rest on their elbows while a slave gives 
them their milk. 
The commerce of the Braknas is carried on by the 
marabouts. It is they - who collect all the gum, for which 
they pay no tribute ; and when they have disposed of it to 
Europeans, they travel into a distant part of the country, to 
sell the guns and Guinea cloth which they receive in ex- 
change. They often stop at Adrar, seven days' journey north 
of lake Aleg ; this town gives its name to a small kingdom, 
and is inhabited by a number of marabouts who are wholly 
engaged in agriculture, and keep numerous herds of cattle. 
H 2 
