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The sun shone gloriously on the tobes of green, white, yellow, blue, and crimson, as they fluttered in the breeze; and with the fanciful caps, the glittering spears, the jingling of the horses' bells, the animated looks and warlike bearing of their riders, presented one of the most extraordinary and pleasing sights that they had ever witnessed.
Their only fine manufacture is that of tobes, or vestments of cotton skilfully woven and beautifully dyed, but still not equal to those of Soudan. The Bornouese are complete negroes both in form and feature; they are ugly, simple, and good natured, but destitute of all intellectual culture. Only a few of the great fighis or doctors, of whom the sheik was one, can read the Koran.
The principal commerce consists in native produce, viz., cotton cloth, woven and dyed here and in the neighbouring towns in the forms either of tobes, the oblong piece of dress of dark colour worn by the women, or plaids of various colours, and the black litham.
In the course of the journey, they met a party of Nouffie traders from Coulfo, with asses carrying trona for the Gonja market. Among them, were two women, very neatly clad in their native costume, with clean white tobes outside their other apparel, resembling as nearly as possible the chemise of European ladies.
Their frizzled wigs are radiant with grease; their Tobes are splendidly white, with borders dazzlingly red; their new shields are covered with canvass cloth; and their two spears, poised over the right shoulder, are freshly scraped, oiled, blackened, and polished.
But every one in this country displayed the same kind of ridiculous vanity, and in the majority of towns which they visited, it was the first great care of their chiefs, to impress on their minds an idea of their vast importance, which in many instances was contradicted by their ragged tobes and squalid appearance.
If the Dulbahantas did not succeed in skinning me of all my effects, they naturally thought the next tribe would; and a whole day was consumed in wrangling and disputing how much they should get. This ended by my giving one musket, thirteen tobes, and my reserve silk turban; and now I was at liberty to quit Jid Ali. 11th.
After much haggling, especially on the part of the handsome Igah, they agreed to receive twenty Tobes, three bundles of tobacco, and fourteen cubits of indigo-dyed cotton. In addition to this I offered as a bribe one of my handsome Abyssinian shirts with a fine silk fringe made at Aden, to be received by the man Beuh on the day of entering the Gerad's village.
This little incident of dropping paper, though fully explained to them, was ever afterwards brought up in accusation against me, and proved very perplexing. 30th. Camp Habal Ishawale. Altitude 5052 feet. We were now all together, and I thought ready to march; but the men had first to be paid their hire in advance a monthly stipend of five tobes each.
The caravans from Bornou and Houssa, which halt at Koolfu a considerable time, bring horses, natron, unwrought silk, silk cord, beads, Maltese swords from Bengazi, remounted at Kano; clothes made up in the moorish fashion, Italian looking glasses, such as sell for one penny and upwards at Malta, tobes undyed, made in Bornou, khol for the eyelids, a small quantity of attar of roses, much adulterated, gums from Mecca, silks from Egypt, moorish caps, and slaves.
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