10 TIMBUCTOO.

shut every evening soon after sun-set: they are made of folding doors, of which there is only one pair. The doors are lined on the outside with untanned hides of camels, and are so full of nails that no hatchet can penetrate them ; the front appears like one piece of iron.

POPULATION.

The town is once and a half the size of Tetuan ", and contains, besides natives, about 10,000 of the people of Fas and Marocco. The native inhabitants of the town of Timbuctoo may be computed at 40,000, exclusive of slaves and foreigners. Many of the merchants who visit Timbuctoo are so much attached to the place that they cannot leave it, but continue there for life. The natives are all blacks : almost every stranger marries a female of the town, who are so beautiful that travellers often fall in love with them at first sight.

INNS, OR CARAVANSERAS. When strangers arrive they deposit their merchandise in large warehouses called fondacs ; and hire as many rooms as they choose, having " That is about four miles in circumference. Tetuan contains 16,000 inhabitants ; but, according to this account, Timbuctoo contains 50,000, besides slaves, a population above three times that of Tetuan: now, as the houses of Timbuctoo are more spacious than those of Tetuan, it is to be apprehended that Shabeeny has committed an error in describing the size of Timbuctoo.

" Who go there for the purposes of trade.