54 HOUSA.

They use charcoal fire, and form guns and swords with the hammer and anvil. The points of their arrows are barbed with iron ; the crossbows have a groove for the arrow. No man can draw the bow by his arm alone, they have a kind of lever ; the bow part is of steel brought from Barbary, and is manufactured at Timbuctoo. They do not make steel themselves.

They inoculate for the small-pox ; the pus is put into a dried raisin and eaten. " Rooka Dindooka is a kind of oath, and means, by God. They believe only one God. After dinner they use the Arabic expression. El Hamd Ulillah ; praise to be to God.

"" They believe the immortality of the soul, and that both men and women go to paradise ; that there is no future punishment ; the wicked are punished in this world. Happiness, after death, consists in being in the presence of God. They are not circumcised. A divorce may take place while a woman is pregnant, but she cannot marry again till delivered. As soon as a woman is divorced, midwives, women brought up to that profession, examine her to see whether she is pregnant.

This is the Arabic, or Muhamedan grace after meat the grace before meat is equally sententious, viz. Bismillah, i. e. in the name of God.