CHAP. V. 
OF THE TIBBOO. 
227 
but accompanied the change of time by movements of the head 
from side to side. At a given signal they all knelt, still going 
through the same motions of the head, and chanting their verses. 
They danced so exactly in time, and were dressed so much in uni- 
form, that it appeared like witchcraft ; when, on a sudden, every 
torch was extinguished, and the fairies vanished, to exhibit in some 
other part of the town. 
The Tibboo women do not, like the Arabs, cover their faces ; 
they retain their youthful appearance longer than the latter, are 
much more cleanly, better housewives, and particularly careful of 
their children, of whom they have a multitude. Their chief occu- 
pation seems to be basket-making ; and they also form drinking 
bowls out of palm leaves, which they ornament with stripes of 
coloured leather, and execute with much taste and neatness. All 
the Fezzanners who come here to trade return loaded with these 
baskets, as presents for their families. 
Having said so much of the agreeable qualities of the Tibboo, 
I feel it but candid to acknowledge their immoderate fondness for 
tobacco, with a great portion of which almost every mouth is 
crammed. Their teeth are, nevertheless, quite white, owing to 
the custom which is peculiar to the Mohammedans of cleaning 
them after eating, with a piece of stick. 
The Tibboo men are slender and active in their form, and have 
intelligent countenances ; their agility is proverbial ; and they are 
frequently, by way of distinction, called "the Birds." The tribes 
which inhabit the southern parts of Fezzan are, from circumstances, 
quiet and civilized ; but those of the interior live chiefly by plunder, 
are constantly making inroads on their neighbours, and are not 
famed for fidelity one to another. They are not disposed to cruelty^ 
but are most impudent thieves ; and their well known character 
secures them the almost exclusive commerce of Waday and Bag- 
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