208 
RESIDENCE AT SOCCATOO AND MAGARIA. 
ditch. The wall is kept in good repair, and there are eleven 
gates ; seven having been built up at the breaking out of the re- 
bellion. The clay walls which surround all African towns, clusters 
of huts, and even single coozies, give a deadly dull appearance to 
them all, whether negro or Mahometan. The only appearance 
of animation is given by the great number of slaves and others 
moving to and fro, or lounging, or lying in the shade at the doors 
of great men. A great part of the town within the walls might 
be taken for a number of ill-enclosed gardens. 
The house of the sultan is surrounded by a clay wall, about 
twenty feet high, having two low tower-like entrances, one on the 
east, the other on the west. The eastern one is entirely guarded 
by eunuchs, of whom he has a great number, I suppose because 
the harem is on the eastern side. The whole of his house forms, 
as it were, a little town of itself ; for in it there are five square 
towers, a small mosque, a great number of huts, and a garden, be- 
sides a house, which consists of one single room, used as the place 
for his receiving and hearing complaints, receiving visitors, and 
giving audiences to strangers. This room or house is nothing 
more than what we should call in our country a shed. Two large 
pillars support a beam, or bundle of long rods, plastered over with 
clay. These support the rafters, which are of the branches of the 
palm-tree; on the back part is an imitation of a fire-place, with 
a fire-screen before it; and on each side are two chairs, which are 
also plastered with clay, and coloured like mahogany. The orna- 
ment or figure on the back of these is the same as those seen on a 
number of chairs in England, and corresponds with that on the fire- 
screen. The walls are ornamented partly in the European and 
partly in the African fashion. There are two doors, one in the 
front towards the right, and the other in the left end of the house, 
and which leads through a small street of huts to a large hut, with 
two doors: passing through and within a few yards of it stands 
