annot be detained in prison after his insolvency is
ascertained. He gives up his property to his creditors; but if he
344 should afterwards become a man of substance, his creditors can
claim the amount of their debts, deducting what they have already
received.

_Dances_.

The dances of the Arabs are peculiar to themselves. The youths
dance without females, and the females without youths. On all
marriages and rejoicings, music and dancing continue till the dawn
of day. Among the encampments of Arabs, in the summer season, the
whole country, at night, is in a blaze of light. The kettle-drum,
the triangle, the shepherd's pipe, and the _erbeb_ an instrument
resembling the fiddle, with two strings, form the band of music.

The youths form a double row of six or eight in each, and carry
themselves erect, with their arms hanging down close to their side;
moving obliquely to the right, then to the left, without taking
their feet from the ground, but moving their heels, then their toes
on the ground, advancing or gliding slowly along; keeping exact
time with the music: they then vault in the air, perform somersets
and various feats of agility. They sing also with great taste and
judgment, and some of them have excellent voices, being selected
for the purpose of affording entertainment to the spectators. The
ladies dance also in a similar manner, but without the vaulting and
somersets. They have a very elegant shawl-dance, which some of them
dance with great taste, and with much graceful movement.
345
_Circumcision._

The circumcision of male children is the general practice of
Islaemism; it is also used among some of the[201] _Khaffers_ or
_Cafers_ of North, Central, and South Africa. Circumcision is not a
practice ascribed to a principle of cleanliness, or any other
cause, but ancient usage. The period of performing this operation
among the Arabs is at the age of eight years.

[Footnote 201: _Khaffer_ (singular number) is an Arabic term,
applied to all who are not Muhamedans; all Pagans, Jews, and
Christians, are called _Khaffer_, _K'fer_ (plural) _Kaffir
billa_, an atheist: hence Caffraria, the name of the country
near the Cape of Good Hope.]

_Invoice from Timbuctoo to Santa Cruz._

Transport of ([202]_Alk Sudan_)