The talbe, or priest, is remarkable for his long beard; and is dressed in a piece of woollen cloth, half white and half crimson, which floats loosely about his body. His figure is emaciated by fasting and the continual wearing a kind of chaplet of an enormous size; and his voice is melancholy and lamentable. He begins his office by ordering the people to come and range themselves under his banner, to hear and sing the praises of the prophet; they all run towards him with the most holy respect. The talbe first inclines himself towards the earth, scatters with his hands that on which his feet have rested, and then taking a handful of that which has not been sullied by his steps, he, for want of water, rubs it over his face, hands, and arms, in order to purify himself, in which action the people all imitate him. After the prayers they remain for some time squat on the ground, trace with the fingers different figures on the sand, and move their hands round their heads, as if they were anointing themselves with a holy unction. In their prayers the Moors preserve the most profound respect: the women, who only assist at those of the morning and at ten in the evening, place themselves at the entrance of their tents, and remain with their faces turned towards the rising sun. It does not appear that these people know the obligation of pilgrimages to Mecca; but they observe with the utmost scrupulousness the rhamadan, or lent. The talbe is both the priest and schoolmaster: his scholars assemble every evening before the tent, and by the light of a large fire he teaches them some sentences of the koran, and initiates them in the principles of their religion. His greatest anxiety, however, seems to be to inspire them with an insurmountable aversion from strangers, and extreme horror at the name of a Christian. These principles, when once imbibed, are never effaced from their minds, and throughout the whole of their life they think the murder of an European no greater crime than that of a dog. The scholars write their lessons on small tablets, as paper is too scarce for common use. While they are at their daily occupations, the boys carry these tablets at their backs; and when they have learnt to read and write, and have acquired a few prayers by heart, they are considered sufficiently informed, and above the rank of children: they then look with contempt upon the unlettered Negroes, and even upon their own countrymen who have not made such progress in science as themselves.