TRAVELS IN AFRICA.. 
125 
Here is the residence of the king, or Alma- 
my, but it is by no means so large a town as we 
expected to see in the capital of so thickly in- 
habited a country. The number of souls do 
not exceed fifteen or eighteen hundred ; the 
greater number are either the relatives, slaves, 
tradesmen, or followers of Almamy, or those of 
the royal family. 
The town is surrounded by a strong clay 
wall, ten feet high and eighteen inches thick ^ ; 
this is pierced with loop-holes, and is so con- 
structed that, at short intervals, projecting 
angles are thrown out, which enable the be- 
sieged to defend the front of the wall by a flank- 
ing fire, and answers all the purposes of defence 
where nothing but small arms is made use of. 
The gates, of which there are five, and some 
of the intermediate parts of the wall, are sur- 
mounted by small embattled turrets, nine or ten 
feet square; those are ir -^dse pierced with 
loop-holes, and give to the plare a better forti- 
fied appearance than any to^il' we had before 
seen. 
Within these outer walls, at the west end of 
the town, and surrounded by stronger and high- 
er ones of the same materials and form, are the 
* It wasj when we saw it^ in bad repair^, not having been 
rebuilt since it was partly destroyed by the Kartan army in 
I8I7. 
