Having at length joined our friends of yesterday, we pitched our linen tents, which greatly attracted their attention, at some distance from their leather dwellings, and were soon beset by numbers of the fair sex, some of whom were distinguished by their plumpness, especially by that peculiar feature called “tebúllodén,” which I mentioned on a former occasion; but I was forced to frighten these fair visitors away, as, in consequence of the last day’s thunder-storm, I felt very unwell, and was obliged to have recourse to an emetic. As for the men, their dress consisted throughout of a short shirt with short open sleeves, made of a coarse kind of broad cotton strips, only a few young lads, sons of the chief, wearing also, here in the encampment, blue-dyed shirts, with a patch of red cloth to adorn the large breast-pocket. Their head-dress was likewise very poor, consisting not of a whole shawl, harám or tesílgemist, but of single cotton strips of various colours, blue, red, white, and of the mixed kind called “shaharíye,” sewed together, only a few of them being able to add a strip of red cloth: for, altogether, these Tawárek are very fond of a variety of colours, a feature already observed by that most excellent geographer El Bekrí[78], and never leave the manufactured shirts of Núpe and Háusa as they receive them, with the exception of a few of the greatest chiefs, who pride themselves in possessing a whole shirt of that kind. Owing to the swampy character of the neighbourhood, which produced countless hosts of mosquitoes, and to the number of hyenas, which frightened the cattle repeatedly, I passed a restless and sleepless night. [Sidenote: Friday, August 12th.] I was now in the hands of the Tawárek, and my crafty Arab companion was enabled to take full advantage of my dangerous situation. For, on the one hand, it had become necessary to represent me to these simple people as a great sheríf, and thus to excite their hospitable feelings, while at the same time he instigated me to reward their treatment in a generous manner, but nevertheless sold my presents to them as his own property. It required a great deal of patience and forbearance on my part, to bear up against the numerous delays in this part of our journey, and to endure the many tricks played upon me by the treachery of my companion, in order to prevent at least his proceeding to open violence. In this encampment he bartered the horse which I had bought for him at Libtáko, for seven fat and powerful bulls, which, in Timbúktu, probably might fetch from 8000 to 10,000 shells each. This business being at length settled, and the whole encampment breaking up, we proceeded onwards. The men were mostly mounted on horses of a small unsightly breed, but well adapted to bear fatigue, while the women were sitting astride on their household furniture, which was packed on oxen and asses.