TIMBtJCTOO. 9 walls are built tabia-wise as in Barbary, viz.

they make large wooden cases, which they fill with mud, and when that dries they remove the cases higher up till they have finished the wall. They never use stone or brick ; they do not know how to make bricks. The wall is about twelve feet high, and sufficiently strong to defend the town against the wild Arabs, who come frequently to demand money from them. It has three gates ; one called Bab Sahara, or the gate of the desert, on the north : opposite to this, on the other side of the town, a second, called Bab Neel, or the gate of the Nile : the third gate leads to the forest on the east, and is called Beb El Kibla. " The gates are hung on very large hinges, and when shut at night, are locked, as in Barbary ; and are farther secured by a large prop of wood placed in the inside slopingly against them. There is a dry ditch, or excavation, which circumscribes the town, (except at those places which are opposite the gates,) about twelve feet deep, and too wide for any man to leap it. The three gates of the town are The tabia walls are thus built : They put boards on each side of the wall supported by stakes driven in the ground, or attached to other stakes laid transversely across the wall ; the intermediate space is then filled with sand and mud, and beat down with large wooden mallets, (as they beat the terraces) till it becomes hard and compact ; the cases are left on for a day or two ; they then take them off, and move them higher up, repeating this operation till the wall is finished.

" El Kibla signifies the tomb of Muhamed; in most African towns there is a Kibla-gate, which faces Medina in Arabia.