close under garments, they might, when sitting on the
ground, as far as decency was concerned, as well have had
no covering at all. The Queen’s head-dress consisted of a
blue nankeen turban; but this was worn only upon occasions
of ceremony, or when she walked out. Besides the
turban, she had her hair stuck full of bone ornaments of a
square shape about the size of dice, extremely white; she
had large gold hoop ear-rings, and many necklaces, some
of them of gold, the others made of beads of various colours.
She wore no shoes; and, in consequence, her feet appeared
to be as hard and dry “ as the hoofs of an ass. *
Besides the blue nankeen dress just described, the Queen
sometimes wore an under dress of white muslin; at other
times a red one. This colour was produced by the juice of
a red root which grows in the neighbourhood, about a foot
and a half long. Adams never saw any silks worn by the
Queen or any other inhabitant of Tombuctoo; for, although
they have some silks brought by the Moors, they appeared
to be used entirely for purposes of external trade.
The dress of the King was a blue nankeen frock decorated
with gold, having gold epaulettes, and a broad wristband of
the same metal. He sometimes wore a turban; but often
went bare-headed. (») When he walked through the town
* Adams’s expression.
he was generally a little in advance of his party. His
subjects saluted him by inclinations of the head and body ;
or by touching his head with their hands, and then kissing
their hands. When he received his subjects in his palace,
it was his custom to sit on the ground, and their mode of
saluting him on such occasions was by kissing his head.
The King’s house, or palace, which is built of clay and
grass, (not white-washed) consists of eight or ten small
rooms on the ground floor; and is surrounded by a wall of
the same materials, against part of Which the house is built.
The space within the wall is about half an acre. Whenever
a trader arrives, he is required to bring his merchandize into
this space for the inspection of the King, for the purpose,
Adams thinks, (but is not certain,) of duties being charged
upon it. (10) The King’s attendants, who are with him all
the day, generally consist of about thirty persons, several of
whom are armed with daggers and bows and arrows.
Adams does not know if he had any family.
In a store-room of the King’s house Adams observed
about twenty muskets, apparently of French manufacture,
one of them double-barrelled; but he never saw them made
use of. (n)
For a considerable time after the arrival of Adams and
his companion, the people used to come in crowds to stare