white-claying

Updated: May 10, 2025

Hiddee is the slave whom the Bashaw has been quizzing so severely about the mighty armies of his master. A number of women are now occupied opposite to us in white-washing or white-claying the Guard-house, this chef-d'œuvre of Mourzuk architecture. The women alone do this work, and as their privilege. There are about thirty of them so occupied, under the command of a queen white-washer.

James Richardson - Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846