One curious particular relating to the Tuarick is, that they have formed colonies in _Siwah_, _Augila_, and _Sockna_; all of which are commercial places, forming a chain along the northern border of the Libyan Desert, towards the maritime states along the Mediterranean. To these, the _Lesser Oasis_ is to be added, in course; as speaking the same language as Siwah; and this is corroborated by Mr. Browne, who says (page 132), that the Lesser Oasis forms a kind of capital settlement of the Muggrebine Arabs. Gadamis also may possibly be found to be a colony of the same people; whose establishments of this kind, may extend along the northern border of the whole Sahara; since they have colonies in a quarter so remote from their own nation.[77] The Tuarick are said, by Mr. Horneman, to be a very interesting people; the most so, of any of the tribes of the Sahara: but he gives the palm of intelligence, benevolence, and mildness, to the people of Houssa; who are, however, Negroes. This Houssa, (or _Haussa_, as Mr. Horneman calls it), whose position has so long evaded geographical research, is, according to this gentleman, an _empire_, consisting of a number of lesser states, in the very centre of North Africa. Kashna, or Kasna, which has so long figured on the Map as an independent empire, must, according to his description, (and which is very consistent), give way to Houssa, of which Kasna is no more than a province. He includes in Houssa, on the authority of a Maraboot, the countries situated generally between Tombuctoo, Asben, and Bournu.[78] He says that three names are applied to this empire (as to Fittré:) Haussa, the name among the people themselves; Soudan,[79] (meaning the country of the _Blacks_, or Negroes) by the Arabs; and Asna, by the people of Bournu. But this last, he says, in strictness, applies only to the countries of Kasna, Kano, (Gana,) and such parts of Houssa, as lie to the eastward of _these_: in effect, those parts of Houssa which border on, or are nearest to, the Bournuans: a practice that has prevailed, more or less, in every country. Concerning the existence of _a city_ of Houssa, Mr. Horneman is silent: but he learnt that Tombuctoo (between which, however, and Fezzan, there is very little intercourse,) is certainly the principal city, and most worthy of notice, in the interior of Africa. It must be admitted that the information collected by Mr. Magrah, at Tunis, respecting Houssa, agrees with the report of Mr. Horneman; but still there may also be a _city_ of the name of Houssa, in the quarter towards Tombuctoo, and within the limits of the empire now denominated Houssa; and which city, at an earlier period, may have been the capital of the empire.