98 A TROPICAL DEPENDENCY talismans, perfumes, &:c. The whole was then covered with rocks, over which earth was heaped, between two mountains, and his son took the reins of government.

The descent from this form of sepulture to that of Ghana, and again from that of Ghana to that now practised among the fetish worshippers of the coast, is illustrative of the decadence which an ideal may undergo as it passes from its original source into the keeping of lower orders of comprehension.

Magic and trial by ordeal were also in use among the people of Ghana. El Bekri is the latest of the Arab authors who refers to these native rites. Shortly after the period at which he wrote the whole country would appear to have become Mohammedan.

Ten days to the south of Ghana was the country of the Lem-Lems or cannibals, whom it was the custom to raid for slaves. Within the kingdom there was a district of which the inhabitants were naked pagans, very expert in the use of the bow and arrow. There was another district entirely inhabited by the descendants of the soldiers sent by the Ommeyade Arabs against Ghana in the first years of the Hegira. These people kept their light complexions and the fine features of their race. In nearly all the important towns of the country, Mussulman traders from the countries of the north were to be met. In some of the towns Mussulmans did not take up their residence, but they were always well received.

Tenkamenin, besides having already adopted Mohammedan dress, was much governed by Mohammedan opinion. He is described as the master of a vast empire, and of a power which rendered him very formidable. He could put in the field an army of 200,000 men, of whom more than 40,000 were armed with bows and arrows. The wealth of the country was very great. The soil was fertile, and gave generally two crops a year. Gold was abundant.

The custom, according to El Bekri, was that all nuggets found in the mines of the Empire belonged to the sovereign, while the public was allowed to keep the gold