282 
TRAVELS IN THE 
ley is sometimes added. The cloth is steeped in this mixture, 
and allowed to remain until it has aquired the proper shade. 
In Kaarta and Ludamar, where the indigo is not plentiful, they 
collect the leaves, and dry them in the sun; and when they 
wish to use them, they reduce a sufficient quantity to powder, 
and mix it with the ley as before mentioned. Either way, the 
colour is very beautiful, with a fine purple gloss; and equal, in 
my opinion, to the best Indian or European blue. This cloth is 
cut into various pieces, and sewed into garments, with needles 
of the natives' own making. A .fiu-.' } ^fdfriub yiav s 
As the arts of weaving, dying, sewing, &c. may easily be ac- 
quired, those who exercise them are not considered in Africa 
as following any particular profession ; for almost every slave 
can weave, and every boy can sew. The only artists which 
are distinctly acknowledged as such by the Negroes, and who 
value themselves on exercising appropriate and peculiar trades, 
are the manufacturers of leather and of iron. The first of these, 
are called Karrankea (or as the word is sometimes pronounced 
Gaungay). They are to be found in almost every town, and 
they frequently travel through the country in the exercise of 
their calling. They tan and dress leather with very great ex- 
pedition, by steeping the hide first in a mixture of wood-ashes 
and water, until it parts with the hair; and afterwards by using 
the pounded leaves of a tree called ^oo, as an astringent. They 
are at great pains to render the hide as soft and pliant as pos- 
sible, by rubbing it frequently between their hands, and beating 
it upon a stone. The hides of bullocks are converted chiefly 
into sandals, and therefore require less care in dressing than 
