The colour of those who reside in Barbary, is a deep, but bright brunette, essentially unlike the sallow tinge of the mulatto.

The Arabs of the desert are more or less swarthy, according to their proximity to the negro states, until, in some tribes they are found entirely black, but without the woolly hair, wide nostril, and thick lip, which peculiarly belong to the African negro.
The Arabs are universally cultivators of the earth, or breeders of cattle, depending on agricultural pursuits alone for subsistence.

To use a common proverb of their own, "the earth is the Arab's portion." They are divided into small tribes or families, each separate tribe having a particular patriarch or head, by whose name they distinguish themselves, and each occupying its own separate portion of territory.
They are scarcely ever engaged in external commerce; they dislike the restraints and despise the security of residence in towns, and dwell invariably in tents made of a stuff woven from goats' hair and the fibrous root of the palmeta.

In some of the provinces, their residences form large circular encampments, consisting of from twenty to a hundred tents, where they are governed by a sheik or magistrate of their own body.

This officer is again subordinate to a bashaw or governor, appointed by the emperor, who resides in some neighbouring town.