n o INTELLIGENCE CONCERNING THE
waist they* wear a girdle of a dark colour; from several cords which
fall from their shoulders, hangs a koran in a leather pouch, and a
row of small leather bags containing amulets, They always carry
in their hands a small lance, neatly worked, about five feet long.
Above the left elbow, on the upper part of the arm, they wear their
national badge, a thick, black or dark-coloured ring, of horn or
stone.
Their upper dress is a Soudanian shirt, over which a long, sword
hangs from the shoulder. The travelling merchants of this nation
carry fire-arms; the others use only the sword,, the lance, and the
knife, which they carry on their left arm, like the Tibbo, but the
handle is finely worked; for they have the art of giving to copper
as bright a colour as the English artists, and this art they keep
very secret.
T h e v carry on a commerce between Soudan, Fezzari, and Ga-
dames Their caravans give life to Mourzouk, which, without
them, is a desert; for they, like the Soudanians, love company,
song and music.
The Tuarick are not all Mahometans. In the neighbourhood.Qf
Soudan and Tombuctoo live the Tagama, who are white, and of the
Pagan religion. This must have occasioned the report, to which
m y attention has been called, by several learned men, that there are
white Christians in the neighbourhood , of Tombuctpo. I am convinced
that the fable arises solely from the expression Namry (i. e.
Christians), which the Arabs and Mahometans use m general fdr
unbelievers.
The greatest par. of the ea.tern tuarick lead a wandering life.