8 
KING OF THE TRARSAS. 
river to visit the ships, and to receive the customary presents, 
some princes accompany him unarmed, for at the Escale no 
one appears with arms, all the gum merchants being Marabouts, 
who never fight. This king is about sixty-five years of age : his 
countenance inspires respect ; his white hair and beard, give 
him the imposing air of a patriarch ; he is dressed in a long 
piece of white cloth which envelopes his body, leaving an 
aperture for his arms and legs, the muscular strength of which 
vies with that of the young men who attend him. The white- 
ness of his garments alone distinguishes him from his subjects, 
and he smokes from the same pipe as those who encircle him. 
Caprice determines the choice of a wife: caprice repu- 
diates her. Affianced at six years of age, the Moorish females 
are mothers at twelve ; it is at this age only that they are pretty, 
and at twenty they may be considered as superannuated. 
Hospitality is the principal virtue of the inhabitants of 
the Desert: they exercise it indiscriminately towards the 
stranger, rich or poor, excepting only the Christian, who is a 
kind of outlaw among these people. 
^ Flesh and milk are the sole food of the Moors: con- 
stitutionally temperate, they sometimes pass a week together 
in the Desert without finding any thing to eat, or a single drop 
of water to quench their thirst ; a girdle fastened round the 
waist, which they draw tighter each succeeding day of their 
forced abstinence, prevents them from sinking under the 
excess of hunger, thirst, and fatigue. 
