TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
189 
at the pummel or front horn of their saddle. 
One leather bag, to contain water, and another, 
a small store of dried cous cous, for their own 
provision, together with a nose bag, and a fetter 
of the same material, for their horse, make up 
the catalogue of their marching baggage, and 
are all fastened, by leather straps, to the back 
part of the saddle, which is at best but a bad 
one, being chiefly composed of pieces of wood, 
tied together by thongs of raw cow hide, and 
which, when wet, stretches so as to allow the 
wood to come in contact with the horse's back, 
and wound it in a shocking manner. 
The disposable force of Bondoo from all the 
information I could collect, does not exceed from 
500 to 600 horse, and from 2000 to 8000 foot. 
When Aim amy finds it necessary to call this army 
to the field for the protection of the country, 
or with the intention of invading the territories 
of some of his neighbours, he repairs with his own 
immediate followers to some village at a short 
distance from the capital, and there beats the war 
drum *, which is repeated by each village, and 
* This is composed of a large wooden bowl^, nearly three feet 
diameter^ covered with three skinS;, one of which is said to 
be that of a human being, another a hyena's, and the third, 
or outside one, a monkey's ; this latter is covered with Arabic 
characters and passages from the Koran. See fig. 2, pi. 9. 
