106 
VOYAGE TO SENEGAL. 
unless the complainant is a man of great power ; and even then 
he dares not make a stir in the business, on account of the ri- 
dicule which would afterwards attend him. It is particularly 
amongst the great men who keep a number of women, that the 
above-mentioned practice is most m vogue. The rest of the peo- 
ple are contented with one or two women, and by this means 
they are less expoged. 
A remarkable and truly extraordinary circumstance is, that 
the women never abuse their husbands by introducing into their 
families illegitiuiate children: for before iheir accouchement they 
always name the father. If, however, the husband should wish 
to have a child of his own by a woman he loves, he obliges her 
to swear that she will remain continent for a certain time: she 
takes the oath, and generally keeps it; but if, in the interval, 
either by violence or the persuasion of her lover, she yields to 
bis wishes, and thus breaks her promise, she confesses her fault 
immediately to her husband; and this avowal is the more 
striking, because the criminal pair do not on that account suffer 
a less shameful punishment : they are ever afterwards devoted to 
contempt and infamy. 
These people have the greatest veneration for the dead ; and 
they pay them the last duties with profound and melancholy re- 
spect. As in Europe, they bury them either in the morning or 
evening, as suits their convenience. The place of h)terment 
is sacred, and is always a wood beyond the town. One of their 
dogmas is, that none die without havmg a presentiment of their 
end, unless they be victims of magic or poison; or when the 
charms of an enemy have been more powerful than the talismans 
which they carry about them. • 
The body that is to be interred is wrapped in a piece of white 
linen, and placed on a bier, which is earned on the heads of six 
boys or six girls, according to the sex of the deceased: the 
corpse is preceded by a friend, who holds a green bough in his 
band, and asks the body several questions as to the cause of its 
death. His principal interrogatories are, Did you foresee it ? 
is it natural? is it in consequence of poison or magic?" The bear- 
ers interpret the answers of the deceased according to the move- 
ments of the body, which they pretend to feel. A simple ro- 
tation indicates that the death was natui al, in which case the 
body is asked, what could induce it to die and leave its friends ? 
whether it was from chagrin at not being able to procure such 
good clothes, or such a fine musket as a certain person? or whe- 
ther it was tlirough despair at not having taken vengeance upon 
any one who had otïended it? But whatever may be the answer 
to these last questions, the friends must not injure those of 
whom the dead body is said to complain. * 
