hours, to the torture of a burning sun, and innumerable flies and mosquitoes, who all feast on him undisturbed. These punishments are, however, often commuted for others of a more lenient kind. Even the judge himself has a strong fellow-feeling for a culprit of this description. When a man refuses to pay his debts, and has the means, on a creditor pushing his claims, the cadi takes possession of the debtor s property, pays the demand, and takes a handsome per centage for his trouble. I t is necessary, however, that the debtor should give his consent; but this is not long withheld, as he is pinioned and laid on his back until it is given; for all which trouble and restiveness, he pays handsomely to the cadi; and they seldom find that a man gets into a scrape of this kind twice. On the other hand, should a man be in debt, and unable to pay, on clearly proving his poverty, he is at liberty. The judge then says, “ God send you the means the bystanders say, “ Amen and the insolvent has full liberty to trade where he pleases. But if, at any future time, his creditors catch him with even two tobes on, or a red cap, on taking him before the cadi, all superfluous habiliments are stripped off, and given towards payment of his debts. The towns generally are large, and well b u ilt; they have walls, thirty-five and forty feet in height, and nearly twenty feet m thickness. They have four entrances, with three gates to each, made of solid planks eight or ten inches thick, and fastened together with heavy clamps of iron. The houses consist of several court-yards, between four walls, with apartments leading out of them for slaves; then a passage, and an inner court, leading to the habitations of the different wives, who have each a square space to themselves, enclosed by walls, and a handsome thatched hut. From thence also you ascend a wide stair-case of five or six steps, leading to the apartments of the owner, which consist of two buildings like towers or turrets, with a terrace of communication between them, looking into the street, with a castellated window. The walls are made of reddish clay, as smooth as stucco, and the roofs most tastefully arched on the inside with branches, and thatched on the out with a grass known in Barbary by the name of lidthur. The horns of the gazelle and the antelope serve as a substitute for nails or pegs. These are fixed in different parts of the walls, and on them hang the quivers, bows, spears, and shields of the chief. A man of consequence will sometimes have four of these terraces and eight turrets, forming the faces of his mansion or domain, with all the apartments of his women, within the space below. Not only those en activité (as the French would say), but those on the superannuated list, are allowed habitations. Horses and other animals are usually allowed an enclosure near one of the court-yards forming the entrance. Dwellings, however, of this description are not common. Those generally used by the inhabitants are of four kinds :— Coosie, which is a hut built entirely of straw. Bongo, a hut with circular mud walls, thatched with straw. N ’Geim kolunby, and fatto-sugdeeby,—huts of coarse mats, made from the grass which grows near the lake. Our dwellings were called bongos, and were about eight feet in diameter inside, about the shape of a hay-stack, and with a hole at the bottom, about two feet and a half high, which we used to creep in and out at. Air, or light holes, we were obliged to dispense with, as they admitted both flies and mosquitoes, which were worse than darkness .T heir utensils are few, and consist, of earthen pots, which they make beautifully for cooking, and wooden bowls for dishes. Water, which is their only beverage, is drunk from a large calabash, which grows wild near the rivers, after being cooled in earthen jars. They sleep on mats covered with the skins of animals. Married women are extremely superstitious, in having their beds covered x t 2
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