The tents, “éhe” (pl. éhénnan), consist of a large round piece of leather formed of a great number of smaller sheepskins cut in quadrangular pieces and sewed together, while the borders of the whole are left purposely very irregular, in order to pass the stalks, which describe the outward circle of the tent, through the projecting corners. These skins are spanned over three pairs of poles, the middle pair of considerable elevation, the remaining two not so high, and one of them, on the right of the entrance, being forked, as represented in the accompanying woodcut, although, as far as I have become aware, the middle poles are not always the same, in some tents both joining at the top, in others seeming to stand apart. The whole character of these tents will be still better understood from the plate representing the Tawárek encampment at Amalélle in the next volume. [Illustration] In such a tent there are generally two couches, or divans, called “teshégit,” made of a fine species of reed, and raised about a foot from the ground; for these people generally choose the most swampy places for their encampments, and after a thunder-storm are sometimes to be found in the midst of a lake. They are also not wanting in comforts; and on every couch there is a leather pillow, “adafór,” which certainly seems very essential, as it would be most uncomfortable to rest the elbow on the uneven and hard surface of these reed couches. Almost all the furniture of these simple people, besides a few wooden bowls for eating and drinking, consists of leather bags of excellent workmanship and sometimes very tastefully ornamented, as will be shown in the following volume. In these they stow away their clothes as well as their provisions; and during the night they surround the whole tent with very neat mattings of a fine species of reed, so that a tent of this description forms quite a comfortable dwelling. Although our host was evidently not one of the first-rate chiefs, he, as well as his kinsfolk and friends who came to visit us, had a very noble and prepossessing appearance, being rather broad-shouldered, stout, and well knit, with a pleasing expression of countenance and a fair skin, though there were a few among them who, with their coarse features and their dark skin, bore testimony to the deterioration of the Berber blood. We had scarcely made ourselves comfortable, when we were treated with large quantities of fresh and sour milk, while a fat sheep was slaughtered and prepared for our supper, but without any additional food, these people living almost entirely on meat and milk.