1835 Court Mag. 6 34/1 His coat of divers colours, his decorated tobe, the panther skin he bestrode, his uplifted arm and threatening spear were seen throughout the field.

1843 McWilliam Med. Hist. Niger Exped. 87 The articles exposed for sale were bags of salt.., tobes of various colours, country cloths [etc.].

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Tob, a piece of Dammour cotton cloth, sufficient to make a shirt, which passes as a currency money in Nubia.

1867 S. W. Baker Nile Tributaries Abyssinia xiii. 333 The old Abou Do being resolved upon work, had divested himself of his tope or toga before starting.

1872 W. H. D. Adams Land of Nile iv. i. 278 They [Nubians] have no currency of their own; glass beads, coral, cotton, tobs or shirts, and samoor or cloth, they receive as money.

1889 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 391 It consists, for men and women alike, of a ‘tobe’, or straight piece of cotton cloth,..two breadths wide, and some twelve feet long, draped..about the body, and fastened on the left shoulder.