An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa | Page 9

of Draha is larger than that of Tafilelt, its circumference being about four or five days' journey. The natives[9] of Draha are very dark, approaching to black, in their complexion: this province abounds in fortresses, like those of Tafilelt.
[Footnote 6: A province at the foot of the mountains of Atlas, south of Marocco, for which see the Map of West Barbary, in Jackson's Account of the Empire of Marocco, &c. &c. p. 1.]
[Footnote 7: This date is called by the natives bouskree: it contains a larger quantity of saccharine juice than any other date. This province also produces a date called b?tube, which is the best that grows, and is called sultan de timmar, i.e. the king of dates. It is not used as an article of commerce, but is sent as presents to the great, and costs nearly double the price of those of any other quality: the quality mostly used for foreign commerce, is the Tafilelt date, called timmar adamoh, which is sold by the grocers in London. This species is, however, considered very unwholesome food, and accordingly is never eaten by the Filellies, or inhabitants of Tafilelt, but is food for the camels. The district of Tafilelt abounds in dates of all kinds: there are not less than thirty different kinds; and the plantations of dates belonging to the princes of Tafilelt are very extensive, insomuch that the annual produce of one plantation is often sold for a thousand dollars, or 220�� sterling. Half a dollar, or five drahems per camel load of three quintals.]
[Footnote 8: A drahem is a silver coin, ten of which are equal to a Mexico dollar.]
[Footnote 9: Their colour is darker than new copper, but not black, It may be compared to the colour of old mahogany, with a black hue. The natives of Draha are proverbially stupid.] 4 The caravans have not, as in the journey to Mecca, their sheiks[10] or commanders. From Fas to Tafilelt they had no chief, but as there are generally a few old, rich, and respectable men in the caravan, its direction and government are committed to their care.
[Footnote 10: The sheik akkabar, or chief of the accumulated caravan, is generally a shereef or prince.]
From Tafilelt, which, as before observed, is the country of the shereefs, they are guided by such of the trading shereefs as accompany the caravan, and who have always great respect paid them, till they arrive at Timbuctoo. The caravan increases as it proceeds in its journey: at Fas it consisted of about thirty or forty; at Draha, of from 300 to 400 camels. From Draha, at the distance of three days' travelling, they found water by digging, and on the next morning they entered the Sahara, which, for the first twenty days is a plain sandy desert resembling the sea. In this desert, when they pitch their tents at night, they are obliged frequently to shake the sand from their tops, as they would otherwise be overwhelmed before the morning.
Some part of this desert is hard, and the camels do not sink deep into it; in others the sand is very loose, which fatigues the 5 camels exceedingly. In travelling, the caravan is directed by the stars at night, and by the sun in the day, and occasionally by the smell of the earth, which they take up in their hands. For the first twenty days after they enter this wilderness they have no water; during this period, the caravan is obliged to carry water in goat-skins[11], as not a drop is to be found by digging. On this account, about a third part of the camels are employed in carrying water, and even with this quantity the camels are often left for three or four days without any. They never use mules in this part of the journey; they neither find the sheh[12], nor the thorny plant so common in the deserts of Africa.
The country on the borders of this desert, to the right and left, is inhabited by roving Arabs, at the distance of three or four days from the track which the caravan pursues; and is said to be partly plain, and in part hilly, with a little grass, and a few shrubs; when the cattle of these Arabs have consumed what grows in one spot, their owners remove to another. The caravan, though it generally consisted of about 400 men well armed, seeks its route through the most unfrequented part of the desert, from a dread of the attacks of the Arabs. The hottest wind is that from the east-south-east, and is called Esshume[13]; the coldest is that which blows from the west-north-west. To alleviate the great drought which travellers feel in the desert, they have recourse to melted butter.[14]
[Footnote 11: These goat-skins, when containing water, are