THE ZENAGUES. 
105 
without mercy. He is then extremely wretched ; few people 
will grant him hospitality ; his life is only protracted suffer- 
ing, and he frequently sinks under the weight of his misery, 
while none of his fellows deigns to bestow on him a look of 
pity. I saw one in the camp where 1 was, who came stark 
naked to beg alms and shelter ; instead of awakening the 
least symptom of compassion, he was driven away with 
blows, and they even set the dogs at him. What would 
become of this unhappy creature ? And what cause could 
there be for such cruelty ? Had he lost the attributes of 
humanity because he wished to change his oppressor ? With 
what pleasure would I have gone without my supper, to give 
it to him ! but his relentless countrymen would not allow 
me this satisfaction. 
I have been told that in times of scarcity the zenagues 
eat grasshoppers, drying them first in the sun ; this, how- 
ever, I suspect to be only a fiction to degrade the zenagues in 
my estimation ; for, as they cultivate millet, and possess 
flocks, they are usually better provided with food than the 
other classes^ and must suffer less in a scarcity than the less 
industrious orders. In the whole course of my peregrinations, 
though I have been among very needy tribes, I have never 
seen the Moors eat grasshoppers. 
The haddads (or blacksmiths) belong to the class of 
tributaries, and are, perhaps, still worse off than those who 
are employed in agriculture and the care of flocks. They 
cannot inhabit a separate camp, if they did, the hassanes 
would plunder them ; they are obliged, in order to avoid their 
rapacity, to dwell in the same camps as the marabouts, and 
make them the guardians of all they possess. 
Notwithstanding the pains 1 took, I never could learn 
the origin of this race, nor how it had been reduced to pay 
tribute to the other Moors ; when I made inquiries on the 
subject, I was always told that it pleased God it should be so. 
