[166]Duveyrier, op. cit., p. 429.
[167]See Plates [36] and [37.]
[168]The practice is alluded to in Gsell’s Histoire de l’Afrique du Nord, Vol. I. Chap. IV, and a connection with the mysterious term Leucæthiopians is suggested, but I think mistakenly. It is an insult to the classical geographers to suggest that any people were so called because some negroes whitened their faces with paint.
[169]Jean, op. cit., p. 193.
[170]I cannot agree with Jean, p. 193, that until their marriage girls never leave their mothers. They are not taken on journeys like boys, but they walk about the villages or encampments in a remarkably free way. Their romances are a proof of their freedom, which is the topic of discussion and the object of remark of anyone who first comes into contact with this race.
[171]Ibn Batutah (French edition), Vol. IV. pp. 388-90.
[172]Known by various native names. In Air the usual name is the Hausa form Tunfafia. Barth refers to it as Asclepias gigantica. It is called Turha or Toreha or Tirza in Temajegh, Turdja in Mauretania, Ushr in Egyptian and Korunka in Algerian Arabic.
[173]Cf. Duveyrier, op. cit., pp. 433-5.
[174]Von Bary, op. cit., p. 185.