INTERIOR OF AFRICA. 
11 
bottom of the upper vessel, and softens and prepares the kouskous, 
which is very much esteemed throughout all the countries that 
I visited. I am informed, that the same manner of preparing 
flour, is very generally used on the Barbary coast, and that the 
dish so prepared, is there called by the same name. It is there- 
fore probable, that the Negroes borrowed the practice from the 
Moors. 
For gratifying a taste for variety, another sort of pudding, 
called nealing, is sometimes prepared from the meal of corn ; 
and they have also adopted two or three different modes of dress- 
ing their rice. Of vegetable food, therefore, the natives have 
no want ; and although the common class of people are but 
sparingly supplied with animal food, yet this article is not 
wholly withheld from them. 
Their domestic animals are nearly the same as in Europe. 
Swine are found in the woods, but their flesh is not esteemed : 
probably the marked abhorrence in which this animal is held 
by the votaries of Mahomet, has spread itself among the Pagans. 
Poultry of all kinds (the turkey excepted) is every where to be 
had. The Guinea fowl and red partridge, abound in the fields ; 
and the woods furnish a small species of antelope, of which the 
venison is highly and deservedly prized. 
Of the other wild animals in the Mandingo countries, the 
most common are the hyaena, the panther, and the elephant. 
Considering the use that is made of the latter in the East In- 
dies, it may be thought extraordinary, that the natives of 
Africa have not, in any part of this immense continent, acquired 
the skill of taming this powerful and docile creature, and apply - 
C2 
