8 
WESTERN AFRICA 
fenced, in the following manner: Two 
rows of posts about four feet apart, planted 
in the earth, and extending above the ground 
from eight to ten feet, the posts being close 
to each other, make up the entire fortifica- 
tion. These have from two to four door- 
ways which are closed at night, and often 
guarded during the day, if danger from war 5 
or other cause, is apprehended. 
If the reader has ever seen, in the dis- 
tance, and on the borders of a w r ood, in 
some of our fine grazing districts, a large 
collection of hay-stacks, that had been 
sometime exposed to the weather, he has in 
his mind a very proper image of an African 
town. The houses are jumbled together 
in a small compass, — the largest town I was 
in ( having near a thousand inhabitants), 
did not cover more ground than is usually 
occupied by a village of one hundred in- 
habitants in this country. In that land of 
wars it is unsafe to live without barri- 
cades ; and hence the less gr.ound occupied 
in building, the less there will be to inclose. 
