INTERIOR OF AFRICA. 35 
discriminately Kafirs (unbelievers) and Sonakies (i. e. men who 
drink strong liquors.) The Pagan natives are by far the most 
numerous, and the government of the country is in their hands ; 
for though the most respectable among the Bushreens are fre- 
quently consulted in affairs of importance, yet they are never 
permitted to take any share in the executive government, which 
rests solely in the hands of the Mansa, or sovereign, and great 
officers of the state. Of these, the first in point of rank is the 
presumptive heir of the crown, who is called the Farbanna ; next 
to him are the Alkaids, or provincial governors, who are more 
frequently called Keamos. Then follow the two grand divisions 
of freemen and slaves ; * of the former, the Slatees, so frequent- 
ly mentioned in the preceding pages, are considered as the prin- 
cipal : but in all classes, great respect is paid to the authority 
of aged men. 
On the death of the reigning monarch, his eldest son (if he 
has attained the age of manhood) succeeds to the regal autho- 
rity. If there is no son, or if the son is under the age of discre- 
tion, a meeting of the great men is held, and the late monarch's 
nearest relation (commonly his brother), is called to the 
government, not as regent, or guardian to the infant son, but 
in full right, and to the exclusion of the minor. The charges 
of the government are defrayed by occasional tributes from 
the people, and by duties on goods transported across the coun- 
try. Travellers, on going from the Gambia towards the interior, 
pay customs in European merchandize. On returning, they pay 
in iron and shea-toulou : these taxes are paid at every town. 
* The term which signifies a man of free condition is Horea, that of a slave, Jong* 
F 2 
