374 
TALE. 
or cabins built of earth, like that which the chief of Sanaiiso 
allotted to me. The women's huts are of straw. We procured 
a little millet for our supper, for which we paid in colat-nuts. 
The wells are at a little distance from the village, and, if 
I may judge from the rope used for drawing up the water, 
they are not above twelve, or fifteen feet deep. 
At half past six, on the morning of the 17th of Ja- 
nuary, we took leave of our host, whom we had taken care 
to pay on the preceding evening. 
On leaving the village we met several Bambaras, who 
had about twenty dogs tied to a single cord; these animals 
were, I was informed, going to be fattened. As soon as 
they saw us they saluted us with such a loud barking that 
we could not hear ourselves speak. Our road lay to the 
N. N. E. and we passed a large village, the name of which 
I could not learn. We continued to travel over a soil com- 
posed of grey sand; the vegetation was the same as it had 
been for several preceding days. After travelling about ele- 
ven miles, we halted about eleven o'clock in the morning 
at Tale, a village containing three or four hundred inhabi- 
tants. They gave us several huts to lodge in. The huts in 
this village are not so large as in those which we had pre- 
viously passed through; but they are of the same form. I 
walked through the streets, which are narrow and dirty. 
My appearance excited the curiosity of the Bambaras, but 
they did not annoy me. The women, who were exceedingly 
dirty, have all a bit of calabash, or a thin slip of wood, 
stuck into the under lip. I could scarcely persuade myself 
that this was a mere matter of taste, and questioned my 
guide upon the subject : he assured me that it was the fa- 
shion of the country. I was equally at a loss to conceive how 
this bit of wood, which was merely stuck through the lip, 
could keep its place. The women allowed me to see that this 
curious ornament was brought through to the inner part of the 
