320 
DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 
When there is a door, it is carved in an elaborate 
manner, with a rude sketch of an alligator or some other 
animal ; the fastening is a bolt and a rough padlock, 
these are, however, seldom required. The furniture and 
utensils are few, and generally lying about the court, 
such as large earthenware jars for water, which being 
spherical, have not the wherewithal to stand alone, and 
are therefore placed on rings of grass, and by which 
they are also supported on the heads of the female 
water-bearers when taken to the river side to be 
replenished ; the cooking apparatus are small calabashes 
and earth ern pots of various form. The machine used 
for pounding the red w^ood and other dyes, resemble very 
much the mills found at Pompeii, except that they are 
wood instead of stone ; and being hollow, they are oc- 
casionally employed as adjuncts to the native musical 
bands, instead of drums. 
On the roofs of most of the dwellings, the griffon or 
fulvous vulture takes up his quarters, patiently watching 
for any offal which may be thrown out, and which he 
soon appropriates. The goats, sheep and fowls, seem 
to have here as undisputed a right to the premises 
generally, as Paddy’s unclean pigs in our sisterland. 
The huts of the higher persons, as Mallams, chiefs, 
or judges, are painted blue or white outside, and have 
occasionally a small space in front paved with pieces of 
granite, or even shells. The sleeping-places arc simply 
raised banks of clay, having mats and some dry grass spread 
over them ; the low wooden-seats sometimes met with 
