HABITS AND CUSTOMS. 55 they dig a pit, and line it internally with straw-matting ; the corn is then thrown in and covered with straw-mats ; sand is now shot over the whole, and the ground is levelled. Cabinets d'aisance are not known to the natives ; in these matters they imitate the cats. There are no stalls or stables for the domestic animals ; the cattle is penned together in an enclosure of thorn, in the vicinity of the tukkoli. The fence is exceedingly dense, intended to keep out the wild beasts at night; and yet it frequently happens that a lion, or hyaena, when urged by hunger, will eiFect an entry through the thickest hedge, and carry away a sheep, a goat, or a calf.

The habits of the people are very simple, and their labour is restricted to the most necessary employments. As soon as the day begins to dawn old and young rise from their couches, and after washing their faces, hands, and feet, in accordance with their religion, proceed to work ; the occupation of the majority, however, consists in again retiring to the angareb. It is worthy of remark that no one sleeps on the bare ground, and that the meanest slave is provided with a mat to lie upon.

In the houses of the more respectable natives, one or two angarebs are always found on which they sleep, while the lower orders are provided with strawmats, for no human being could endure lying on the mere ground for any length of time ; for the vermin harbouring in the sand would nearly eat him up.

The bed of a slave is certainly not of eiderdovm, and many Europeans, rising in the morning from a