464 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chat** LII. 
feet from the ground, twenty feet long by six to 
eight feet wide, and the same in height, separated 
into several compartments, and encompassed all round 
with mattings of latticework made of fine reeds, in 
which branch of industry, as I have before observed, 
the people of Logon are very clever. The matting 
is of dark colour ; but upon my inquiring how they 
dyed it, I was not a little surprised to hear that it is 
done by dipping it into the black argillaceous soil. In 
this secluded room, which is called " ghurara," these 
people protect themselves against the innumerable 
swarms of mosquitoes which infest these low swampy 
regions during the night. 
Of course, I could not have any pretensions to this 
distinguished place, which is reserved for the different 
members of the family ; and I took my station upon a 
raised platform of clay at the side of the entrance,- 
where I was a little annoyed by the mosquitoes, 
although, the door having been shut at an early hour, 
and some cattle inside the hut attracting the attention 
of this cruel insect in a stronger degree, the numbers 
were supportable. In other respects I was well 
treated, the landlord being a wealthy man, of the 
name of A'dim, and his wife being even a princess 
or meram of Logon ; she was a talkative and cheerful 
person. They regaled me with a small pancake soon 
after my arrival, and a dish of rice and milk in the 
evening. It was extremely interesting to witness the 
singular kind of living of these people, and to hear 
them talk their peculiar style of Arabic, which has 
