DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 



145 



The Bomouese have, however, an ingenious mode, re- 

 prssentedin the accompanying plate, of fishing with a very 



simple apparatus. They take two large gourds, and fasten 

 them at each end to a stem of bamboo. The fisherman 

 seats himself upon this machine, floats with the current, 

 and throws his net. On drawing it up, he lays it before 

 him, stuns the fish with a species of mace, and piles them 

 into the geurds. They are afterward dried, and conveyed 

 over the country to a considerable distance. 



The Bomouese are complete negroes both in form and 

 feature ; they are ugly, simple, and good-natured, but des- 

 titute of all intellectual culture. Only a few of the great 

 fights, or doctors, of whom the sheik was one, can read the 

 Koran. A " great writer," indeed, is held in still higher 

 estimation than with us ; but his compositions consist only 

 of words written on scraps of paper, to be enclosed in cases, 

 and worn as amulets. They are then supposed to defend 

 their possessor against every danger, to act as charms to 

 destroy his enemies, and to be the main instrument in the 

 cure of all diseases. For this last purpose they are aided 

 only by a few simple applications ; yet the Bomou practice 

 is said to be very successful, either through the power of 

 imagination, or owmg to their excellent constitutions. In 

 N 



