28 THE COUNTRY 



naked visitors, as I have before mentioned, swam from 

 shore a very long distance and were taken on 

 board. 



Following Shurmalkee's advice, we started, but 

 certainly not to see the town, though we passed 

 through it ; for with eyes bent upon the ground, we 

 carefully picked our way along the narrow street, 

 not four feet wide, the tops of the stinking skin 

 wigwams and mat-huts presenting one uniform 

 dark level, just the ' height of our noses. The 

 outskirts of the town were equally offensive, but 

 more particularly marked by the vast quantity of 

 bones of all eatable animals strewed about, and the 

 vestiges of numerous cooking fires, everywhere 

 telling of the sites of former houses, and that a few 

 weeks before the fair must have been even more 

 extensive. About half-a-mile to the left of the 

 town, on a slightly elevated mound of sand and 

 coral, was a ruined mosque, the only appearance of 

 a stone building in the neighbourhood. To this we 

 proceeded, our conversation turning upon the dirti- 

 ness of the town, its low flat appearance from every 

 point of view, the singular character of its 

 inhabitants, and the great importance Berberah 

 might assume in the possession of some highly 

 civilized country, (we meant Britain, of course,) as 

 one point from whence to spread through Africa the 

 benefits arising from science, and the happiness 

 attendant upon a knowledge of the Christian faith. 



Around the mosque were numerous graves, each 



