190 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XLIV. 
artificial ponds enlivened the hamlet, and called to 
mind similar scenes in my native country, except that 
ducks and geese were wanting. The only scenes of 
active life which were at present to be seen were 
those of pillage and destruction. 
The architecture of the huts, and the whole ar- 
rangement of the yards, was very similar to that of 
the village we had first seen on entering the country. 
But the tops of the granaries in general were here 
provided with a sort of " fennel," covered in by a roof 
of straw. Broad well-trodden paths, lined by thick 
fences of a peculiar bush called " magara " in Kaniiri, 
which I have mentioned in another locality*, were 
winding along through the fields in every direction. 
But there was one object which attracted my atten- 
tion in particular, as it testified to a certain degree of 
civilization, which might have shamed the proud Mo- 
hammedan inhabitants of these countries. For while 
the latter are extremely negligent in burying their 
dead, leaving them without any sufficient protection 
against the wild beasts, so that most of them are de- 
voured in a few days by the hyaanas, here we had 
regular sepulchres, covered in with large well-rounded 
vaults, the tops of which were adorned by a couple of 
• In the view of this scenery which the artist has made from 
my sketch, it has been thought fit not to represent the moment 
of destruction, but a preceding one of the quiet life of the natives; 
the approaching misfortune being only indicated by the column 
of smoke in the background. The man sitting on the sepulchre 
is meant to represent the first glimmer of Islam brought to these 
people by some wandering mallem. 
