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time, travelling generally on foot ; these journeys take them from 

 two to four months, and equally long to return to their homes. 

 They are" all of the Mahomedan persuasion, and proficient Arabic 

 scholars. Their manners are easy and insinuating ; and in conver- 

 sation, which is always (or generally) done through an interpreter, 

 they are full of compliments and flattery. Agreeably to the Maho- 

 medan creed, they use no liquor, wine, or beer of any kind, (not 

 even ginger beer,) and drink exclusively water, or sugar and water. 

 They are, for the most part, very uncleanly in their habits, and par- 

 ticularly so in their dress — oftentimes wearing one apparel without 

 ever taking it off to cleanse their bodies the whole time they are 

 away from home ; their clothes are consequently almost in rags be- 

 fore they put on new ones. 



" The gold is found in veins, and dug up in a solid substance, 

 resembling the fine roots of trees. It is then purified by a mere 

 melting process, in crucibles, so as to separate the earthy portion 

 from the metal itself. The Africans are not capable of amalgama- 

 ting the gold, this is left for the refiners in England to do. 



" In some of the countries already mentioned, — Bondou and 

 Timbo, more particularly, — they sweep out their huts every morn- 

 ing, the floors of which are mud; and no person is permitted to stir 

 out until this office is performed. In the dust they sweep up, a little 

 gold is mixed. They then wash the whole in vessels for the purpose, 

 and the gold naturally sinking to the bottom, is thus separated, and 

 obtained in small quantities. The twisting is accomplished by 

 holding both ends of a solid piece of gold between nippers, and 

 then turning it round until it assumes the appearance in which it is 

 imported, being exceedingly ductile ; this is not a tedious process. 

 The rings thus twisted, are sometimes from twelve to fifteen inches 

 in circumference, and weighing about fourteen ounces. I however 

 have heard, that they are made much longer and heavier ; but these 

 are not, to my knowledge, parted with in the way of trade, but 

 worn as ornaments round the neck and arms. 



" In the interior, all transactions are carried on for gold, the 

 trader being furnished with a pair of scales made of the hard outer 

 skin of the orange gourd. The weights are the seeds of certain vege- 

 tables or fruits. They thus pay in gold from two pence to £10, and 



