IBN BATUTA IN MELLE 139 coloured race, apparently of the tint which Earth describes as that of the "red races" of the Soudan. They had other customs which correspond to those of the Soudanese. The Aztec crown was transmitted, like that of Melle, in collateral descent, though in both kingdoms exceptions to the rule occurred. The practice of keeping the sons of subject princes as a sort of honourable hostage at the court of the monarch was perhaps too general to be worthy of special note, though it also was common to the two peoples. The more terrible custom of propitiating the gods with human sacrifice which was so extensively practised by the Aztecs, was, it will be remembered, only the other day brought to an end under British rule in Benin, and is probably still practised in less accessible portions of the pagan belt. Such heathen rites were, of course, unknown in the Mohammedan Melle of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. The custom of wearing the heads of animals as a head-dress, which was also common to the Aztecs, was preserved amongst the pagans of the West African coast at the time of the first occupation of the Gold Coast by the Portuguese in 1481.

On festive occasions the servants of the rich at Melle would seem to have worn livery. The royal herald Dougha's thirty servants are mentioned as being all dressed in red cloth, with white caps. Music evidently formed a prominent part of every entertainment. The women are described as wearing pretty clothes, and having their hair dressed with bands of gold and silver.

We get an indication of social etiquette from the experience of Batuta. The treatment which he had received from the Sultan was not considered by his friends to be sufficiently honourable, and about two months after his arrival in Melle he was presented a second time. This was done on the advice of the herald, Dougha, who told the traveller that he must rise and call attention to