536 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXVII. 
the divinity, whose anger he has thus provoked ; and 
on returning to his village he finds his hut in flames. 
It is evident that this tribe, as well as many of the 
neighbouring ones, venerate their forefathers, in which 
respect they closely resemble the South African tribes, 
although the Berbers also seem originally to have had 
this sort of worship as well as the Hausa people. The 
Margin do not practise circumcision ; but, what seems 
very remarkable, they practise inoculation for the 
small pox, at least to a considerable extent. 
As I was sitting outside the courtyard, by degrees a 
great many natives collected round me, when a young 
man took me aside and entreated me earnestly to give 
him a remedy against the dislike of people. I, how- 
ever, soon succeeded in making him confess that he 
meant only the dislike of one girl, who, he said, did 
not relish his haughty demeanour, and that he was 
reduced to a state of desperation, and wished for 
nothing but to die in battle. This example shows 
that even these simple people have some sentiment 
of love. 
Saturday ^ some difficulty in persuading Billama 
July 12th. to leave this hospitable place ; but I was 
ashamed to cause these good people, who had been 
robbed and despoiled a short time ago by Kashella 
'All, any more trouble. We took a more easterly 
path than that by which we had travelled before, 
but nearly of the same character — full of holes and 
crevices, and covered with thick forest, while 
the nutritive root " katakirrl " employed the several 
