LAKE ALEG. 
89 
paration or cooking. The slaves who flay the ox receive the 
neck and some bones ; the head is given to the haddads, and 
the other bones are distributed as presents. 
The Moors never invite their friends^ not even their 
relations, to eat meat ; what they have they keep for them- 
selves. Sometimes a number of them join together, each 
furnishing his ox, which they kill in turn, and eat the flesh 
in common, as I have before said respecting the young men 
and the sheep. ' This is a sort of carnival amongst them, and 
they give it a name which signifies ^^a party to eat flesh." 
On the 12th of December I went to lake A leg, it was 
surrounded by camps of marabouts, for it is the rendezvous 
of all those who travel on the banks of the river. The 
environs are broken by little hillocks covered with iron-stone. 
The voscia integrifoUa grows abundantly in the plain ; the 
Moors collect the fruit, which they call ir^, and eat it cooked 
with meat. The banks of the lake are covered with mimosa, 
zizyphus lotus, and nauclea africana. Its breadth does not 
exceed three miles ; it stretches from south to north, and 
terminates in a north-westerly direction ; the circumference 
may be about twelve leagues. It overflows periodically, like 
the river, and inundates the contiguous lands for a mile 
round. These lands are particularly productive, and are 
cultivated by the Moors when the waters have subsided. 
The lake is fed by the el-Hadjar, and by an immense number 
of ravines, which collect water during the rainy season. 
The season for collecting gum had now arrived, and 
every body was employed in making preparations ; I inti- 
mated a wish to accompany those who were going out for 
that purpose, but I could not get leave. I attribute this re- 
fusal to distrust ; for the Moors conceive that the Europeans 
wish to take possession of their country as being the finest 
in the world. Not being allowed to gratify my wish of ob- 
serving these operations, I tried at all events to obtain ac ™ 
curate information on the subject. 
