LIP ORNAMENT. 
375 
lip, and they laughed heartily at my astonishment. I asked 
one of them to remove the piece of wood from her lip; but 
she told me that if she did so the saliva would run through 
the hole. In short, I was quite amazed that coquetry 
could induce them to disfigure themselves in this manner; 
yet it is the general custom of this country. I saw young 
girls eight or ten years of age, who had in their lower lip 
little pieces of wood of the circumference of a pen, pointed 
at one end and stuck into the flesh. They renew it frequently, 
and every time use a larger bit of wood, which gradually 
widens the hole, until it becomes large enough to admit 
a piece of wood of the size of a half-crown piece. I observed 
that this singular and inconvenient ornament contributed 
to their uncleanliness. 
The old men are provided with a bull's tail for the pur- 
pose of driving away the flies, which are very numerous and 
troublesome in this country. I did not see in this part of 
Africa any of those musquitoes which are so tormenting 
to travellers in the neighbourhood of the Senegal. 
The inhabitants of this village are kind, affable, and 
hospitable : they invited me to partake of their little suppers 
of yams and mouse sauce. 
Their huts are small and dirty. They cultivate rice and 
yams; their crops usually remain in the fields all the dry 
season, and when the rains commence they remove them to 
little straw store-houses, which are erected in the middle of 
the court-yards. The people are poor; they possess but few 
slaves, and scanty herds and flocks; but their soil, being 
fertile and well cultivated, yields them more than they want. 
I saw but few horses, and these were miserable-looking 
animals. I did not observe that the inhabitants of this 
village worship a deity. Like the people of Wassoulo, 
they have no religion ; but they entertain a high respect for 
the disciples of Mahomet and the Koran, which they regard 
