CHAP. IV. 
MORZOUK. 
177 
Eacli of the Sultan's sons has a large troop of slaves, who attend 
him wherever he goes ; they are generally about the same age as 
their master, and are his playmates, though they are obliged to 
receive from him many hearty cuffs without daring to complain. 
The suite of the youngest boy in particular forms a very amusing 
group, few of them exceeding five years of age. One bears his 
master's Bornouse, another holds one shoe, walking next to the boy 
who carries its fellow. Some are in fine cast off clothes with tar- 
nished embroidery, whilst others are quite, or nearly naked, without 
even a cap on their heads ; and the procession is closed by a boy 
tottering under the weight of his master's state gun, which is never 
allowed to be fired off. 
In Morzouk the luxuries of life are very limited, the people 
subsisting principally on dates. Many do not, for months together, 
taste corn, and when obtained, they make it into a paste called 
Aseeda sjJ\, which is a softer kind of Bazeen. Fowls have now^ 
almost disappeared in the country, owing to the Sultan's having 
appropriated all he could find for the consumption of his own family. 
The sheep and goats are driven from the mountains near Be- 
nioleed, a distance of four hundred miles ; they pass over one 
desert, which, at their rate of traveUing, occupies five days, without 
food or water. Numbers, therefore, die, which of course raises the 
price of the survivors. They are valued at three or four dollars 
each when they arrive quite skeletons, and are as high as ten or 
twelve when fatted. Bread is badly made, and baked in ovens 
formed of clay in holes in the earth, and heated by burning wood ; 
the loaves, or rather flat cakes, are stuck into the side, and are 
thus baked by the heat which rises from the embers. Cusscussou, 
Dweeda, and Mogatta, are the best food they have. 
The mills are of the same description as the hand-mills of the 
Arabs. The corn, when ground, is tolerably fine ; but the unavoid- 
