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 fre-

quently 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 ex-

cavation, 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 ter-

races) 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.