100 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 
iiîg tbem to go alone ; for during the whole period of their 
suckling:, the husbands scrupulously respect the laws of chas-? 
tity to their utmost extent, and would regard an infraction of 
them as a crime the more serious, as it would be hurtful to the 
îiurse and the health of the child. Barrenness is the greatest ig^ 
nominy a woman can suffer. Nature has not excluded them 
from the pains of child-birth, but. they support them with much 
courage, and without making any complaints. A short time 
after, they return to their ordin\ry occupations. 
Their domestic amusements are every where alike, and are 
similar to those of our country people. In the evening the 
p incipal wife, surrounded by the other women of her husband, 
and the servants of the house, employs herself in spinning or 
carding" cotton ; while one of the company amuses the rest by 
reciting pleasant stories. The old ones tell of witches and ghosts, 
the vouDg ones of their amours. There are likewise games of 
chance, at which the men and women play separately ; but 
both sexes like dancing in preierence to eveïy thing, i^vid to this 
exercise they devote themselves every moon-light evening, from 
an h jur after sun-set till midnight. Besides these evenings, the 
birth of a child, or the visit of a friend, likewise supplies them 
with frequent opportunities for erijovmg Ciillumgèes, by which 
name they distinguish their meetings for singing and dancing.. 
When they give a cuîlun^gée in honour of any event, the dancers 
appear dressed in a grotesque manner, They wear a high cap 
of rushes, surrounded by fealhers, have the eyes, mouth, and 
nose painted white, and wear round their vvr ists a small petti- 
coat of rush s, which they display in every possible shape. 
On beginning to dance xV'e.y take in their hands small pieces of 
wood, vvliich they strike together, and by which they mark time_, 
as do the Spaniards with the cafetanets, 
I he death of one of tht family, or of a relation or friend, 
â new opportunity for a daiice. They celebrate the Wha, or 
inourning ; and the ceremony ot lamentation is of such a na- 
ture, that a stranger would suppose them to be making 
festivities. 
On the evening of an appointed day, the relations, friends, 
and acquaintances of the deceased assemble before his house, 
M here ihey sing in his praise, and dance to the sound of a drum : 
they incessantly vary the figures of their dance; sometimes they 
form a large circle round the music, and clap their hantis oi) 
each stanza of the song ; at otht rs a single person dances in the 
midst of tl.'e vest, who alternately sit down and stand up ; or 
three or four oaiy are in action at once, and continue to movo 
aboot till they arc fatii>ued, when they are replaced by olhçrs. 
llie company all the while sing and clap their ha'nds. This; 
