6(s 
TRAVELS IN THE 
Their government differs from that of the Mandingoes chiefly 
in this, that they are more immediately under the influence of the 
Mahomedan laws; for all the chief men (the king excepted) 
and a large majority of the inhabitants of Bondou, are Mus- 
sulmen, and the authority and laws of the Prophet, are every 
where looked upon as sacred and decisive. In the exercise of 
their faith, however, they are not very intolerant towards such 
of their countrymen as still retain their ancient superstitions. 
Religious persecution is not known among them, nor is it ne- 
cessary ; for the system of Mahomet is made to extend itself 
by means abundantly more efficacious. By establishing small 
schools in the different towns, where many of the Pagan as well 
as Mahomedan children are taught to read the Koran, and in- 
structed in the tenets of the Prophet, the Mahomedan priests 
fix a bias on the minds, and form the character of their young 
disciples, which no accidents of life can ever afterwards remove 
or alter. Many of these little schools I visited in my progress 
through the country, and observed with pleasure the great do- 
cility and submissive deportment of the children, and heartily 
wished they had had better instructors, and a purer religion. 
With the Mahomedan faith is also introduced the Arabic 
language, with which most of the Foulahs have a slight ac- 
quaintance. Their native tongue abounds very much in liquids, 
but there is something unpleasant in the manner of pronounc- 
ing it. A stranger on hearing the common conversation of two 
Foulahs, would imagine that they were scolding each other. 
Their numerals are these : — 
