314 
VISIT TO THE ALMAMY. 
time to time. His son came sometimes to offer me his 
scanty supper, which I always refused, knowing that he had 
nothing else for himself. 
On the 1st of August, I went with one of my com- 
panions to pay a visit to the almamy. We entered an apart- 
ment, which served the double purpose of stable and bed- 
chamber, with the royal bed at the further end ; this bed 
was a platform, six inches high, six or seven feet long, and 
five or six wide, upon which was spread an ox-hide, with a 
dirty musquito-curtain to keep off the insects. The room 
might be thirty or thirty-five feet long, and ten or twelve 
wide ; it is constructed of earth, which they have not taken 
the trouble to make into bricks ; the walls are seven, or 
seven feet and a half high, and a foot thick ; the roof is sup- 
ported upon wooden posts, planted within the side walls, 
and covered with straw; there are three entrances, the 
doors of which are also formed of straw. No furniture is 
visible in this royal apartment ; but there were two saddles 
hanging up against the wall from the posts, a great straw 
hat, a drum, which is only used in time of war, some lances, 
a bow, quiver, and arrows ; these were all its ornamements, 
excepting a lamp, formed of a piece of iron, supported upon 
another piece of the same metal, stuck into the ground : 
vegetable butter, which has not consistency enough to be 
made into candles, is burnt in this lamp. Two other apart- 
ments, of the same dimensions, serve as magazines for the 
produce of the fields and other valuables. The large inner 
enclosure contains several common huts, in which I saw 
some looms like those employed on the coast. The old 
prince was lying down on his bed, and he made us sit 
by him. He was saying his prayers, and held in his hand 
a rosary two feet and a half long, the beads of which 
were as large as bullets ; he appeared very attentive. He 
addressed his conversation to me, and begged me to make 
his compliments to the elders of Mecca and Medina when I 
