10 
WESTERN AFRICA 
but generally they have mats suspended 
above the door and window places, which 
are dropped like curtains when they wish 
to close their houses, which they seldom do 
in daytime. Those houses, rude as they 
may seem, afford tolerable protection in a 
tropical climate when they are well built. 
As might be inferred, they are very damp 
in the rainy season, and hence unhealthy to 
foreigners. 
The best furnished houses it was my pri- 
vilege to see in that country, among real 
heathens, have nothing more in them than 
a couple of country chairs, *or blocks of 
wood to sit upon, a couple of iron pots to 
cook in, a wooden bowl and spoon or two, 
and a rudely constructed bed-stead ; a de- 
scription of which and the bedding will be 
given by-and-by. 
Immediately on the coast, and where they 
have mingled with white traders and Mis- 
sionaries, and had access to trading estab- 
lishments, some of them have better furnish- 
ed houses ; but everywhere are houses, not 
a few, not so well furnished as those I have 
described. 
