TIBBOOSTUARICKS.

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the embellishments of coral stuck in the nose, and of oil streaming over the face. They are, besides, a gay, good-humoured, thoughtless race, with all the African passion for the song and the dance; which last they practice gracefully, and with movements somewhat analogous to the Grecian. This cheerfulness appears wonderful, considering the dreadful calamity with which they are daily threatened. Once a-year, or oftener, an inroad is made by their fierce neighbours the Tuaricks, who spare neither age nor sex, and sweep away all that comes within their reach. The cowardly Tibboos dare not even look them in the face; they can only mount to the top of certain steep rocks, with flat summits and perpendicular sides, near one of which every village is built. They carry up with them every thing that can be removed; and this rude defence avails against still ruder assailants. The savage Tuaricks, again, were observed by Clapperton and Oudney in a journey to the westward from Mourzouk, and were found in their private character to be frank, honest, and hospitable. The females are neither immured nor oppressed, as is usual among rude and Mohammedan tribes, but meet with notice and respect; indeed the domestic habits of this nation much resemble the European. They are a wandering race of shepherds and robbers, holding in contempt all who live in houses and cultivate the ground; yet they are perhaps the only native Africans who have letters and an alphabet, which they inscribe, not on books and parchments indeed, but on the dark rocks that chequer the surface of their territory; and, in places where they have long resided, every stone is seen covered with their writings. The accompany

ing plate represents a Tuarick on his camel, with a male and female Tibboo standing beside him.

Bilma, the capital of the Tibboos, was found a mean town with walls of earth, but surrounded by numerous lakes containing the purest salt, the most valuable of all articles for the commerce of Soudan. The inhabitants, however, though deeply mortified, durst not prevent the powerful Tuaricks from lading their caravans with it, and underselling them in all the markets. About a mile beyond Bilma was a fine spring, spreading around, and forming a little circle of the richest verdure. This was the last vegetable life the travellers were to see in a march of thirteen days. In these wilds, the constant drift causes hills to rise or disappear in a night; all traces of a road are soon obliterated, and the eye is guided only by dark rocks which rise at intervals amid the

THE DESERT PASSED-GUNDA-TIBBOOS. 189

waste. Sometimes the sand is formed into hills with perpendicular sides, from twenty to sixty feet high. Down these the camels are made to slide ; and can only be kept steady by the driver hanging with all his weight on the tail, otherwise they would tumble forward, and throw the load over their heads. Tremendously dreary are these marches; as far as the eye can reach, billows of sand bound the prospect." In a high wind volumes of this substance darkened the air, through which it was sometimes impossible to pass.

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After a fortnight spent in the Desert, the expedition saw symptoms of a return to the region of life: Scattered spots of thin herbage appeared; little valleys watered by springs were filled with the shrub called suag, on which grew delicate berries; small herds of gazelles fed in these retreats; even the droves of hyenas indicated the revival of animal nature. At every mile the valleys became more gay and verdant; and the creeping vines of the colocynth in full bloom, with the red flowers of the kossom, converted many of these spots into a little Arcadia. The freshness of the air, with the melody of the songsters among the creeping plants, whose flowers diffused an aromatic odour, formed a delightful contrast to the desolate region just passed. Here again were found Tibboos, of the Gunda tribe, a more alert and active people than the former; the men uglier, the girls handsomer and more delicately formed. This sept have about 5000 camels, on whose milk alone they support themselves for half the year; the little crop of gussub and millet being too precious for their horses, they are fed with camels' milk, sweet or sour, which keeps them the whole year in the highest health and condition. The chief, Mina Tahr, or

the Black Bird, was presented by Boo Khalloom with a coarse scarlet burnouse and a tawdry silk caftan these paltry dresses, being the finest that had ever invested the person of this chieftain, threw him into ecstasies of delight, which he continued for hours to testify by joyful shouts and high leaps into the air. Major Denham's watch singularly delighted him; but solely, as soon appeared, from the pleasure of seeing his own person in the bright metallic case; so that a very small mirror was deemed still more precious.

In this approach to the territory of Soudan the English began to witness the exercise of mutual plunder between the caravan and the natives. Every animal which straggled from the main body was instantly carried off; even a dog had been eaten up, and only the bones left. A herald, handsomely equipped, who had been sent forward to the Sultan of Bornou, was found stripped, and tied naked to a tree. On the other hand, no sooner did the caravan come in view of any village than the inhabitants were descried on the plain beyond in full flight with all their effects. The Arabs pursued, in indignation only, as they pretended, at not being allowed to purchase what they wanted; but the conduct of the poor natives was evidently the result of long experience; and Major Denham saw executed on one party the most rapid process of plunder he ever witnessed. In a few seconds the camels were eased of their loads, and the poor women and girls stripped to the skin. Boo Khalloom, on this and other oc- · casions, interposed, and insisted on restitution; but whether he would have done so without the urgent remonstrances of the English appears doubtful.

The expedition, now advancing rapidly, entered