sound of wild music, which the women, seated on the ground, produce
from uncouth instruments; by these means they obtain a livelihood.
Their dress is picturesque, scarlet vest and white drawers. In
many respects they not a little resemble the Gypsies; but they are
not an evil people, and are looked upon with much respect by the
Moors, who call them Santons. Their patron saint is Hamed au Muza,
and from him they derive their name. Their country is on the
confines of the Sahara, or great desert, and their language is the
Shilhah, or a dialect thereof. They speak but little Arabic. When
I saw them for the first time, I believed them to be of the Gypsy
caste, but was soon undeceived. A more wandering race does not
exist than the children of Sidi Hamed au Muza. They have even
visited France, and exhibited their dexterity and agility at Paris
and Marseilles.

I will now say a few words concerning another sect which exists in
Barbary, and will here premise, that if those who compose it are
not Gypsies, such people are not to be found in North Africa, and
the assertion, hitherto believed, that they abound there, is devoid
of foundation. I allude to certain men and women, generally termed
by the Moors 'Those of the Dar-bushi-fal,' which word is equivalent
to prophesying or fortune-telling. They are great wanderers, but
have also their fixed dwellings or villages, and such a place is
called 'Char Seharra,' or witch-hamlet. Their manner of life, in
every respect, resembles that of the Gypsies of other countries;
they are wanderers during the greatest part of the year, and
subsist principally by pilfering and fortune-telling. They deal
much in mules and donkeys, and it is believed, in Barbary, that
they can change the colour of any animal by means of sorcery, and
so disguise him as to sell him to his very proprietor, without fear