160 CAPTAIN TUCKEY'S NARRATIVE. 



or cousin. On every demise a fresh investiture takes place 

 by the viceroy's sending a cap (here the mark of all dignity) 

 to the appointed successor ; but though it is necessary that 

 the succession should be continued in the family, the vice- 

 roy is not restricted to nearness of kin or primogeniture, 

 but as favour, corruption or intrigue operates strongest, the 

 investiture is given. The Chenoo, in his turn, appoints seve- 

 ral inferior officers by sending them caps, particularly the 

 Mafook, or custom master, who interferes in all trading 

 transactions. The Mombella, Macaya and Mambom, are 

 officers whose respective powers I have not yet been able to 

 ascertain with any certainty. Slavery is here of two kinds, 

 which may be denominated household or domestic, and 

 trading. When a young man is of age to begin the world, 

 his father or guardian gives him the means of purchasing a 

 number of slaves of each sex, in proportion to his quality, 

 from whom he breeds his domestic slaves, and these (though 

 it does not appear that he is bound by any particular law) 

 he never sells or transfers, unless in cases of misbehaviour, 

 when he holds a palaver, atwhich they are tried and sentenced. 

 These domestic slaves are, however, sometimes pawned for 

 debt, but are always redeemed as soon as possible. The 

 only restraint on the conduct of the owners, towards their 

 domestic slaves, seems to be the fear of their desertion; 



