24 
N'PAL. 
may be estimated at two thousand, all marabouts. The natu- 
ral advantages of their soil and situation have a visible in- 
fluence on their manners ; less slothful, less insolent, and 
less treacherous, than the negroes of other parts, they bestow 
hospitality without ostentation, and always in a generous 
manner which heightens its value. Every stranger is sure of 
finding an asylum among them. 
Situated between the country of Cay or and Walo, twenty 
miles eastward of Gandon, this village, entirely independent, 
is governed by a marabout who is its absolute master. At 
his death he is succeeded by his eldest son ; if the latter dies 
without children, the supreme power devolves to his nearest 
kinsman. This chief levies an impost on millet, which is 
paid to him in kind at harvest-time, and amounts to one tenth. 
The inhabitants are armed with muskets and lances. When 
the neighbouring villages are threatened with pillage by the 
damel, or king, of Cayor, their inhabitants seek refuge at 
N'pal, where they are not only received, but also find gene- 
rous allies who take up their defence. 
Throughout the whole country the huts are small, ill 
constructed, and extremely filthy ; the door is so low that to 
enter you are obliged to crawl on all fours. The residence 
of each family is composed of several huts surrounded by 
quick hedges, planted at random and without taste : some- 
times this inclosure is formed merely of posts and rails, or a 
kind of palisade of straw. The streets are extremely narrow, 
winding, and dirty, all sorts of filth 43eing thrown into them. 
Both men and women are very uncleanly, as in all the negro 
villages in this country, and they rub a great quantity of 
butter upon their heads. 
Few idle persons are to be seen among them. The men 
employ themselves in the cultivation of their fields during the 
rainy season, and in clearing the land required for fresh crops 
during the dry season : the women have to attend to the 
household concerns ; they spin cotton; some dye cloths blue 
