coast, chiefly for the purpose of sharing or purchasing the
plunder of such vessels as may be cast on shore :—which
misfortune but too frequently happens to those who do not
use the precaution of keeping a good offing; for most parts
of this desert coast are so low, and the weather is here in
general so hazy, as to preclude a distant view of the
shore.
The Douar (by which word I mean a village of tents,
and which I shall accordingly so use hereafter, in speaking,
of the encamped residences of the Arabs) is here scarcely
deserving of the name; consisting, as I have been told,
only of a few scattered tents, inhabited by a small community
of poor and miserable Arabs, whose manner of living,
dress and appearance, are doubtless such as Adams here
describes; and who, residing chiefly, if not entirely, on the
sea-coast, become the first possessors of the valuables: and
surviving crews of such vessels, as here suffer shipwreck,
As soon as such an event is known in the Desert, their
Douar becomes a mart, to which Arabs from all parts, of
the interior resort for trade; and it even not unfrequently
happens, that when the news of such a catastrophe reaches
the southern provinces of Barbary, the native traders of
Santa Cruz, Mogadore, and their districts, make long
journeys, for. the same purpose,, and frequently bring back
valuable articles saved from the wreck, Which they purchase
from the ignorant natives as things of no value. In this
manner, I have been informed of superfine cloths being
bought at half-a-dollar the cubit measure. Occasionally
also I have seen Bank of England notes, which I was
assured cost a mere trifle; the purchaser only knowing their
value. Watches, trinkets, wearing apparel, muslins, silks,
linens, &c. are gladly disposed of for dates, horses, camels,
their favourite blue linens (baftas) or any of the few articles
which are felt by these poor people to be immediately
serviceable in their wretched way of living. They are,
however, more tenacious of the fire-arms, cutlasses, pikes,
cordage, bits of old iron, spike nails, and copper, upon
which they set great value, and therefore seldom part with
them.
This is the common mode of transacting the trade of a
wreck. However, it not unfrequently happens that when
the crew and cargo fall into the possession of any tribe of
insignificant note, the latter are invaded by one of their
more powerful neighbours, who either strip them by force
of all their collected plunder, or compel them, through
fear, to barter it at rates far beneath its estimated value.
In either case, whether obtained by purchase or by force,
the Arabs load their camels with the spoil, and return to