THE DIAVANDOS. 
163 
opinion, by means of eulogies or satires of which they are 
equally lavish. They speak with great facility, are proficients 
in the Arabic language, and zealous Mahometans. Their 
traffic in praises and invectives procures them considerable 
wealth. If one of these men demands a horse or a musket 
from the king, he dares not refuse him. " Yes," said Boukari 
to me, " if a Diavando were to require my gun, I would give 
it him without hesitation ; for if I did not consent to make 
him a present of it, he v/ould go to my friends and would 
injure me so much in their opinion, that I should be aban- 
doned by them all." This proves that in the interior of Africa 
as well as in Europe, calumny produces the most baneful eiiects, 
and that there exist few persons who have so much confi- 
dence in their own opinion as not to be shaken by a perfidious 
insinuation against their neighbour, A Poula, however, will 
not give his daughter in marriage to a Diavando ; neither is 
this the only class of persons consigned to contempt ; but the 
line of demarcation here is not so strong as in Hindostan ; to 
appearance there are no distinctions. The griots, blacksmiths, 
weavers, shoemakers, live and eat with the other Negroes, 
but never connect themselves with them by marriage. 
The Poulas breed great numbers of horned cattle, which 
constitute their chief property. Such is the attention which 
they pay to these animals that notwithstanding the enormous 
price of salt, they give it to their oxen for the purpose of 
Y 2 
