126 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
palaces of Almamy, his son Saada, and his ne- 
phew Moosa Yoro Malick, all joining each 
other, but having no internal communication. 
The mosque, by no means a good one, stands 
in an open space in the south-west end of the 
town. It was in very bad repair, being nearly 
destitute of thatch. It is a large oblong clay 
building, lying east and west, the walls about 
nine feet high, and the roof, which is com- 
posed of rough timber, is supported in the cen- 
tre by three strong forked stakes, about eight- 
teen feet high. The ends of this roof extend 
five or six feet over the walls, on which it rests, 
and is there supported by forked stakes five feet 
high, forming a sort of piazza. Public prayers 
are performed in it five times a day, with the 
greatest apparent devotion. 
The town is divided by streets, or more pro- 
perly lanes, which are very narrow, dirty, and 
irregular. The outside of the walls too, in con- 
sequence of the want of public places of conve- 
nience, is nothing but a continued heap of filth, 
which emits, particularly during the rains, an 
overpowering and unpleasant effluvia. 
The huts or houses are of different forms : 
some entirely composed of clay and rough tim- 
ber, are square and flat roofed ; others are 
round, having the walls of the same material as 
the former, but are covered with a conical roof, 
