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 Timbuc-

too 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 : al- most 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 mer-

chandise in large warehouses called fondacs

;

and hire as many rooms as they choose, having

" That is about four miles in circumference. Tetuan con-

tains 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.