w. Owing to the
want of wood, no coffins are used. The bodies are merely wrapped in a
mat, or linen cloth, and covered with palm branches, over which the
earth is thrown. When the branches decay, the earth falls in, and the
graves are easily known by being concave, instead of convex. The
place where the former sultans were buried, is a plain near the town;
their graves are only distinguished from those of other people, by
having a larger proportion of broken pots scattered about them. It is
a custom for the relations of the deceased to visit, and occasionally
to recite a prayer over the grave, or to repeat a verse of the Koran.
Children never pass within sight of the tombs of their parents,
without stopping to pay this grateful tribute of respect to their
memory. Animals are never buried, but thrown on mounds outside the
walls, and there left. The excessive heat soon dries up all their
moisture, and prevents their becoming offensive; the hair remains on
them, so that they appear like preserved skins.

The men of Mourzouk of the better sort, dress nearly like the people
of Tripoli. The lower orders wear a large shirt of white or blue
cotton, with long loose sleeves, trousers of the same, and sandals of
camel's hide. The shirts being long, many wear no other covering.
When leaving their houses, and walking to the market or gardens, a
_jereed_ or _aba_ is thrown round them, and a red cap, or a neatly
quilted cotton white one, completes the dress. On Fridays, they
perhaps add a turban, and appear in yellow slippers. In the gardens,
men and women wear large broad-brimmed straw hats, to defend their
eyes from the sun, and sandals made from the leaves and fibres of the
palm trees. Very young children go entirely naked, those who are
older have a shirt, many are quite bare-headed, and in that state
exposed all day to the sun and flies. The men have but little beard,
which they keep closely clipped. The dress of the women here, differs
materially from that of the moorish females, and their appearance and
smell are far from agreeable. They plait their hair in thick bobbins,
which hang over their foreheads, nearly as low down as the eye-brows,
and are there joined at the bottom, as far round to each side as the
temples. The hair is so profusely covered with oil, that it drops
down over the face and clothes. This is dried up, by sprinkling it
with plenty of a preparation made of a plant resembling wild
lavender, cloves, and one or