DRESS. 
165 
been ; how well he has managed his affairs ! try to imitate 
liim^ that yon may be as fortunate as he was." The riches^ 
all the while, may probably consist of a European hat, 
trowsers, shirts, and a few other articles of the kind, which 
he never wore in his life. The bed of the deceased is held in 
great reverence, and at the foot of this wretched pallet a hole 
is dug, six feet deep, in which the corpse is buried upright; 
a fire is kindled over his head every night, and his relations 
come and talk to him under the idea that he hears what they 
say. 
The family of the deceased, who are ruined by this act 
of superstition, are supported till the next harvest by the 
inhabitants of the village ; for even their rice is not saved 
from the flames. 
This beautiful and fertile country produces abundance 
of palms, from which they obtain a great quantity of oil : 
this they are very fond of, and use in their cookery. It is with 
this oil also that they anoint their bodies and heads; they 
even besmear their clothes with it : they are, consequently, 
very filthy, and smell of palm-oil to a great distance. 
They wear nothing but a pagne round their loins ; and 
though they have all the materials for clothing at hand, they 
will not take the trouble to use them. They wear a copper 
ring suspended from the cartilage of the nose, and ornament 
their ears with several rings of the same kind. The women 
have no other ornament than a few beads. 
These people are considered thieves by their neighbours ; 
and yet they are very hospitable, which seems scarcely com- 
patible with the vice of which they are accused. They never 
see a stranger without inviting him to share their repast, and 
it would be almost an insult to refuse them ; they consider it 
as a kind of contempt, and are much hurt at it. They are 
warlike, and are often at war among themselves. Whole 
families sometimes fight to settle their own quarrels, or even 
those of their ancestors. They are armed with poniards, and 
