THE TABASKY. 
129 
for supper. To prevent them from hurting themselves at night 
while asleep, stakes are driven into the ground about the 
place vrhere they lie, so that they have not room to turn. The 
interval between the operation and their entire cure is a 
privileged time, when they play all sorts of roguish tricks on 
their parents; but I have been assured that they do not 
steal, as I have seen the children do amongst the negroes. 
The girls are circumcised at a year old ; the hassanes, like the 
zenagues, always employ a marabout to perform the operation. 
At the end of the fast, they celebrate a feast (the Tabasky) 
which is considered as a great solemnity. All put on their 
best apparel ; a ram is killed, and plenty of sangleli is made : 
every one has abundance to satisfy his hunger, and it is per- 
haps the only day in the year when their appetite is com- 
pletely satisfied. They present one another with millet ; 
but it is rather an exchange than a gift, for they always give 
to those who have the ability to give to them and not to the 
poor. 
This is purely a religious festival amongst the marabouts, 
and the greater part of the day is passed in prayer ; it is a 
sort of Easter, when custom permits them to eat more than 
usual. The hassanes make it a day of rejoicing ; the men 
fire off their guns, and perform evolutions on horseback, and 
the women, assembling round the guehues, sing to their 
music, and accompany it by clapping their hands. The feasts 
of the hassanes are usually gayer than those of the marabouts, 
because the guehues, who are present at the former, enliven 
them by their songs, their music, and their tricks. 
On the 18th of April, my marabout's sons returned from 
the port, whither they had been carrying gum, and told us 
that Hamet-Dou was going to St. Louis. Mohammed-Sidy- 
Moctar advised me to go thither too and look after my goods. 
"They VA^ould not dare," said he, "to detain you while the 
king is there, and if they should refuse to deliver your goods, 
the king will take you under his protection. This proposal 
VOL. I. K 
