70 
CEREMONY AT GRAVES. 
I begged him to give me a little water^ and accompanied my 
request by a short prayer in Arabic ; he gave me some rather 
grudgingly, and told me that I should have had none if it 
had not been for the prayer. At noon we arrived at the 
camp of Boubou-Fanfale, situated on the bank of the 
Hadjar ; he seemed pleased to see me, and gave me a bit 
of mutton for dinner. My guide returned and Boubou 
sent one of his sons to conduct me to the camp of my 
marabout. At two o'clock we set off again, directing our 
course over a stony soil. At six in the evening, having 
travelled about ten miles, we arrived at Teneque, the camp of 
the zenagues belonging to the king ; we passed the night 
there. My host gave me for supper a bowl of sangleh, 
which I enjoyed very much. In the evening, I was visited 
by all the women of the camp. 
On the 1 1th, at five in the morning, we continued our 
journey still in the same direction. One of the marabouts 
was going the same way, and we travelled in company. The 
soil, consisting of yellow sand, Avas covered with khakhames. 
We passed near eight or ten tombs, and as soon as my fel- 
low-travellers descried them at a distance, they exclaimed : 
Salam aleycoom ; la allah ila allahou ! (Peace be with 
you ; there is only one God.) We stopped to pray, which 
gave me time to examine the tombs. Mounds are raised 
upon the bodies, and at the head of each is a flat stone, on 
which is written the name of the deceased. iVfter a short 
prayer, we each threw a small branch of a tree on the tombs ; 
my companions then went to the grave of a celebrated mara- 
bout which had a hole a foot deep at the head ; they took 
earth from this hole, and rubbed their foreheads, breasts, and 
backs with it, and then invited me to follow their example ; 
from which 1 inferred that all passers-by were expected to 
perform this ceremony. 
At eleven o'clock, we arrived at the camp of the Dheio- 
lebere tribe, of which my marabout was the chief ; we had 
