IN WESTERN AFRICA. 
55 
CHAPTER XIX. 
ANCIENT CUSTOMS. 
They observe many ancient customs. For ex- 
ample: They take the finest flour, best rice, 
purest oil, and the best of whatever they use as 
food themselves, prepare them in the best style, 
and ofler them in sacrifice to their deities. Those 
familiar with the Old Testament know that the 
Jews were required to take the best of their 
flocks and sacrifice to the Lord. Some of them 
also wear sandals, as the people did anciently. 
They sometimes wash the feet of strangers 
coming to them, which is also an ancient custom. 
If the traveler be a common person, the head- 
man’s slaves or wives wash his feet; but if he be 
a man of note, the head-man washes them him- 
self, to show the respect in which he holds him, 
Washing feet is a custom founded upon a phys- 
ical necessity in warm countries, as much as wear- 
ing clothes is in cold countries ; and when spoken 
of in the Scriptures as a religious act, it means 
