286 TRAVELS IN NORTHERN AFRICA. ciiAP. vii. 
good memories, and by constantly repeating sentences of the Koran 
for thirty or forty years, manage to know it by heart. 
The lower classes work neatly in leather ; they weave a few 
coarse barracans, and make iron work in a solid though clumsy 
manner. One or two work in gold and silver with much skill, con- 
sidering the badness of their tools ; and every man is capable of 
acting as a carpenter or mason. The wood being that of the date 
tree, and the houses being built of mud, very little elegance or skill 
is necessary. Much deference is paid to the artists in leather or 
metals, who are called (par ewcelleiice ) " Sta," or master ; as, " leather 
master," — " iron master," &c. 
No individuals arrive at any eminence of character, or, from their 
abilities, are exalted above the people, except such Maraboots as 
have most cunning and hypocrisy. They become privileged, courted, 
and revered while hving, and prayers are addressed to them for their 
mediation, after they are dead. The language here is Arabic, but 
diiFers materially from the dialect of Egypt. 
From the constant communication with Bornou and Soudan, 
the languages of both these countries are generally spoken, and 
many of their words are introduced into the Arabic. The family- 
slaves, and their children by their masters, constantly speak the 
language of the country whence they originally come. Their 
writing is in the Mogrebyn character, which is used, I believe, 
universally in western Africa, and differs much from that of the 
east. The pronunciation also is very different, the Kaf j being 
pronounced as a G, and only marked with one nunnation, thus cJ, 
and the F is pointed below _j. They have no idea of arithmetic, 
but reckon every thing by dots on the sand, ten in a line; many can 
hardly tell how much two and two amount to. They expressed great 
surprise at our being able to add numbers together without fingering. 
