The camel is the chief wealth of a Tuareg. “How many camels has your father?” I was asked, and it was very difficult to convince my questioner that this useful animal would be of no good to us in France. The costume of Tuareg women is simpler than that of their husbands, and consists of a long piece of stuff, which is rolled round and round the body, a pair of cotton drawers, and a _fariuel_, or shawl, which they wear over their heads, and drape about their figures as gracefully as their extreme stoutness will admit. Copper ornaments are much valued and are very rare. As a general rule the women and men both like any sort of trinket which can be hung round the neck; an old sardine tin is a very suitable present for an admirer to give to a Tuareg lady. A Tuareg’s house is his tent. The very poor, however, live in straw huts called _ehan_. The tent or _ehakit_ is made of skins upheld by a central stake; the edges of the skins are very irregular, and are fastened with the aid of tags to pegs stuck in the ground. During the night the tent is closed, and the owner is shut up within it, but in the daytime it is left open on the side opposite the sun; blinds made of very thin laths of wood, kept together with strips of leather, plaited in and out, shield those in the tent from the heat and glare of the rays reflected from the burning sands. An encampment of tents is called an _amezzar_, a group of camps, generally occupied by one tribe, is a _tausi_, and over such an agglomeration the chief or _amrar_ has full authority. [Illustration: TUAREGS.] The imrad camps are surrounded by palisades or _afaradj_, between which and the tents occupying the centre of the enclosure the flocks and herds are sheltered at night and protected from the lions, which still prowl in the vicinity. The Ihaggaren seldom have their flocks and herds with them, but when they have, certain of the imrads under them live in the camp and look after the animals. Within the tent the woman is mistress. It is her business to look after and order about the slaves. She milks the cows and she does the cooking. But amongst the more important tribes the house, or rather tent-keeping cares do not occupy the whole of the day, and the nights are so warm that all sensible Tuaregs sit up till midnight at least. Well, how does the woman employ her spare time? She does her leather work very much as European ladies do their embroidery, or she sings to the accompaniment of an _amzad_, or violin with but one string. She even composes verses. Yes, she makes verses! Will not this arouse the interest of all the blue-stockings of Europe? Surely when their occupations are so much alike their sympathies will go out to their sisters in the distant desert. I can even add that Tuareg verses will always scan, and that they all rhyme. Surely this is a good deal more than can be said of the effusions of most female scribblers!