82 
PRIVATE FEASTS. 
of an oven ; a marabout then killed the sheep^* and the slave 
skinned it. The marabouts took the intestines, which they 
emptied by squeezing them betvreen their fingers ; and then, 
without washing, they made puddings with them ; these 
were put over the fire, and eaten when they were half cooked. 
When there was a large quantity of embers, they were 
removed from the hole, and the sheep put in their place ; 
embers and ashes were then spread over it, and fire kindled 
above. In half an hour's time, my companions considered 
that the sheep was sufliciently dressed ; they took it out of 
the hole, gave the head and a scrap of the neck to the slave, 
and divided the rest into as many portions as there were 
persons present ; lots were cast after this to determine to 
whom each share should belong. Feasts of this kind are 
much in vogue with the Moors ; five or six young men join, 
and furnish each a sheep in their turn, which they eat in the 
woods, that they may not be beset as they would be in the 
camp. When they have had as much as they can eat, they 
carry the rest to their relations ; but there is never much left 
for this purpose, and sometimes none at all. Of the skins of 
their sheep and goats they make leather bags, and use them 
to keep and carry water in ; for that purpose, they slit the 
skin of the animal from the knee nearly to the shoulders, 
loosen it with their hands and turn it back, and then take 
out the flesh through the opening. 
On the 6th of November, the camp broke up ; we then 
marched three miles W. J N. W. along the bank of a stream, 
where pasturage was abundant. Part of the camp remained 
behind, and rejoined us on the Sth. I was informed by a 
marabout that Mohammed- Sidy- Moctar was then on the road 
to his camp. 
* Among the Moors, and also the negroes, it is always a marabout 
who kills the animals intended for food ; they would not eat meat which 
had been killed by a slave, or even by a man who was not a marabout. 
