604i MORAL AND POLITICAL STATE. 
lice in the whole continent. The habitations con- 
sist merely of huts, with walls of earth, and a roof 
composed of leaves and twigs interwoven. If 
xnore accommodation is wanted, a number of huts 
is built, and a circular enclosure drawn round 
them. The palaces of African monarchs consist 
merely of a large collection of such cottages, form- 
ing a species of village, and enclosed with a mud 
wall. A residence composed of such slight mate- 
rials is easilv moved. A week builds an African 
city, an hour destroys it. Hence, the slightest 
motives of caprice, the dread of an enemy, or the 
exhaustion of the surrounding country, are suffi- 
cient to transfer their largest towns from one spot 
to another. 
Agriculture forms another art, by which the 
progress of any people in civilization may be very 
accurately measured. The natives of Africa, 
with very few exceptions, cultivate the ground to 
a certain extent. None of the native races, how- 
ever, are acquainted with the plough, or any cor- 
responding machine ; nor have they skill suffi- 
cient to draw any services from the lower ani- 
mals. The human hand, aided by some rude 
implements, forms the only power employed in 
cultivation. Generally speaking, only a certain 
spot around every town or village is cleared ; the 
rest belongs to the domain of the forest. There 
are few districts which do not afford large tracts 
