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TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 183 
custom, or tribute, paid him by the Senegal 
Company's vessels trading in the river, and the 
French Government establishment at Baquelle, 
where, as will appear in a subsequent article on 
Galam, he has of late years acquired consider- 
able influence and authority. 
The peace offerings and presents from all 
those who have any business to transact with 
the king, or favour to ask from him, although 
not limited to any particular amount, do not 
compose the least valuable part of his income: 
slaves, horses, cattle, poultry, rice, corn, cotton 
cloths, gold, and indeed all the productions of 
the country, are incessantly presented as dou- 
ceurs. 
The religion is Mahomedan, but its pi'ecepts 
are not so strictly attended to in Bondoo as 
in some of the other states of Western Africa. 
There are mosques of one kind or other in every 
town ; some of them, however, are nothing more 
than small square spaces enclosed with stakes, 
and kept cleanly swept. Here, as in all the 
others, prayers are publicly said five times every 
day ; the usual Mahomedan ceremonies of ab- 
lution, &c., are attended to. When praying, 
they strip off all implements of war, or recepta- 
cles of money, tobacco, or snuff, and make use 
of a string of beads or rosary, which they count 
frequently after each act of devotion. This 
