VOYAGE TO SENEGAL* 
cliurclies and priests in different parts. They are recognized by 
their costume; they wear a great chaplet suspended from ths 
neck, a very long sword by their side, a shirt, a cloak, a hat, and 
a poignard. 
Some of these people devote themselves to commerce and 
a2;ricultare, and are generally adroit, brave, and enterprising. 
They acquire propei ty, live happily, and are much esteemed ; but 
by far the greatest part live in the most complete state of idle- 
ness, and in consequence of being poor, addict themselves 
to thieving; they also pass their time in tlie most disgusting state 
of libertinism, and are equally despised by the Mahometans and 
the Christians. 
The industrious part of these people proceed to the top of the 
river in the canoes or boats of the country, and generally perform 
such voyages on account of the French, who entrust them with 
iTierchandise, and pay them liberally. They have sometimes 
been attacked in their voyage, but they always proved that they 
i^new how to defend their liberty and property. They have also 
learnt from their ancestors never to pardon wrongs nor injuries; 
and if this be not a precept of their religion, it is a command of 
their fathers which necessity justifies. J an) of opinion that it is 
possible to employ with great advantage these men so inured to 
the climate^ to travel over, and make discoveries in the interior <of 
Africa. 
The Portuguese build their habitations according to the plan 
of their ancestors, by which they are more solid and commodious 
than those of the Negroes : they raise them two or three feet 
above the soil to secure them from the damp, and give them a 
considerable lens^th so as to divide each house into several cham- 
bers. The windows they make aie very small, in order to keep 
out tlie excessive heat of the climate ; and they never fail to build 
avfcstibule open on all sides, in which they receive visits, take their 
meals, and transact their business. The walls are seven or eight 
i'eet high, and,, as well as the roof, are of reeds covered on both 
sides with a mixture of clay and chopped straw : the whole is 
coated with piaister. They take care to plant latane or other 
trees before their houses, or to build them on a spot where such 
trees are growing, in order to enjoy the refreshing shade which 
they produce. The king of Barra and the greatest people of 
his kiijgdoui have similar places of residence. 
On the banks of the river Gambia may also be fojmd three 
nations of Africans, namely, the Felups, Yolofs, and Foulahs. 
Ail these people are aMahometans, but they have retained the 
stupid, though innocent superstitions of their ancestors. The 
real Mahometans they call Kafirs, which means inlidels. 
'ilm Felups are of an indolent; melancholy; and slovenly cha- 
