The Moors of this miserable country are incessantly harassed by the Berbers, from whose habits of rapine they have every thing to fear, although they pay them a heavy tribute; and not one of them, whatever rank he may hold at home, dares travel without being thus accompanied. These roving people, not being themselves cultivators of the soil, are obliged frequently to go to el-Drah to purchase barley and dates for food, and not daring to attempt this without the convoy of the Berbers, they pay them an additional tribute by way of remuneration. These latter, well armed, are continually prowling about in the country of el-Harib, to obtain food from the Moors and even to carry off their cattle. The inhabitants of this district are so poor that they can purchase only the cheapest provisions, principally such dates as, having fallen from the trees before they have become perfectly ripe, are carefully picked up by the owners, exposed to the sun to dry, and then put into leathern bags, where they become so extremely hard that very good teeth are requisite to eat them without pain. Upon these dates, which they pound in a wooden mortar, and a little cheni, the Moors of el-Harib subsist during the day; eating sangleh before evening only in very particular cases. About eight or nine at night, they usually sup upon a couscous of barley generally steeped in warm water, in which they have boiled a handful of herbs gathered in the environ of their camp. They also breed some sheep, but when they kill one, which is very rarely done, they dry the meat and preserve it in leathern sacks, sometimes for six months. They have recourse to this reserve when they treat strangers, particularly the Berbers, to whom they are very attentive. As a mark of consideration, they spread before the tent for their repose a carpet as good as those which we use in Europe. The master, in honour of his guests, frequently eats with them from the same bowl, and, instead of offering them pure water, he adds to it camel’s milk, which in the rainy season is very abundant. On the arrival of the strangers, the dates and cheni are immediately set before them as a refreshment till the supper hour. Though the Moors of el-Harib receive the Berbers thus hospitably, yet in travelling through their country they are never treated even with a supper; in their journeys therefore, they are careful to carry their provision of dates and a little barley-meal, which they boil in water. The costume of the Berbers differs from that of the Moors only in a band of coloured stuff, which the former wrap round their heads in the form of a turban; they also wear ear-rings. They are all armed and mounted on fine horses, handsomely caparisoned, and they wear spurs, which are attached to a leather strap firmly fastened round the instep.