318 
THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 
tities of iron stone. They dig and manufacture a 
species of iron, which is extremely malleable. The 
mines are extremely deep, with many galleries or 
horizontal passages, which are very long, and in 
some places high and wide, with openings for the 
admission of air and light. They are wrought by 
women, who carry victuals along with them when 
they descend. At Laby and Teemboo, which is 
about 1 60 miles distant from Sierra Leone, they 
manufacture narrow cloths, of which their dress is 
composed, and work in iron, silver, wood, and lea- 
ther. Their houses are well built, neat and con- 
venient, placed at a distance from each other, to 
guard against fire, a precaution which never occurs 
to the Mandingoes. Among their amusements,, 
horse-racing may be enumerated. The markets 
and channels of trade are under the regulation of 
the king, whose power is, in many respects, arbi- 
trary, and his punishments severe. As there are 
schools in every town, the majority of the people 
are able to read, and many possess books of law and 
divinity. The profess the Mahometan religion, 
have numerous mosques, and are not bigots, though 
they pray five times in the day. On a sudden 
emergency, the Foulahs can bring into the field 
no less than 16,000 cavalry. As they are sur- 
rounded with twenty -four nations, many of whom 
are Pagans, their religion affords them a pretext 
for the acquisition of slaves by war. Some of the 
