taste dry and unsavoury, is preferred by the Moors to any other; and that
the milk of the female is in universal esteem, and is indeed sweet,
pleasant, and nutritive.

I have observed that the Moors, in their complexion, resemble the
Mulattoes of the West Indies; but they have something unpleasant in their
aspect, which the Mulattoes have not. I fancied that I discovered in the
features of most of them a disposition towards cruelty and low cunning;
and I could never contemplate their physiognomy without feeling sensible
uneasiness. From the staring wildness of their eyes, a stranger would
immediately set them down as a nation of lunatics. The treachery and
malevolence of their character are manifested in their plundering
excursions against the Negro villages. Oftentimes, without the smallest
provocation, and sometimes under the fairest professions of friendship,
they will suddenly seize upon the Negroes' cattle, and even on the
inhabitants themselves. The Negroes very seldom retaliate. The
enterprising boldness of the Moors, their knowledge of the country, and,
above all, the superior fleetness of their horses, make them such
formidable enemies, that the petty Negro states which border upon the
Desert are in continual terror while the Moorish tribes are in the
vicinity, and are too much awed to think of resistance.

Like the roving Arabs, the Moors frequently remove from one place to
another, according to the season of the year, or the convenience of
pasturage. In the month of February, when the heat of the sun scorches up
every sort of vegetation in the Desert, they strike their tents, and
approach the Negro country to the south, where they reside until the
rains commence in the month of July. At this time, having purchased corn
and other necessaries from the Negroes, in exchange for salt, they again
depart to the northward, and continue in the Desert until the rains are