TIBBOOS OF TIBESTY. 
101 
Tibesty. How interesting it is to talk with tlie 
natives of those untrodden countries, to which 
chance may some day lead us ! He says Tibesty 
is ten days from Gatroun, and fourteen from Mour- 
zuk. It is all mountainous, except one long wady 
where the population is located. There is no re- 
gular town ; but all along the valley the popula- * 
tion, which is said to be about 5000, though desert 
statistics are little to be credited, is scattered in 
groups of three or four, cultivating the ground and 
tending on the flocks which feed on the rich 
herbage, whilst goats scramble for food along the 
slopes of the boundary mountains. The people 
dwell either in huts or in caverns scooped out oP 
the sides of hills, some of them very extensive. 
"What a picture of primitive life ! Families living 
separate, not yet driven to hide behind walls, or 
congregate in masses for safety. The desert is their 
bulwark. This place lies, indeed, far east of the 
caravan route from Bornou. There is no road 
direct eastward from Tibesty, but caravans can go 
south-east to Wadai*. The valley produces, besides 
other grain, a good quantity of ghaseb, which is the 
principal food of the inhabitants. Some palms rise 
here and there in clumps, but are not very pro- 
ductive; and dates are imported from Fezzan. 
The tree most frequent is the tholukh ; but there 
is also another common tree, called the arak. In 
the open country, the wadan, the gazelle, and the 
ostrich are found, and the people hunt them with 
dogs. Good water is supplied by wells and streams, 
