HABITS AND CUSTOMS. 59 during the day require very little trouble, and in no country have I seen as much indolence as in Kordofan. Every man, be his means ever so small, endeavours to purchase a slave, and this poor wretch must then do all the work, in order that his master may lie all day long in the shade, indulging in idleness. The natives never perform any more labour than is absolutely necessar}', and thus much only when it is urgently required. Those who attend to agriculture have very little trouble or care in their employment ; for they have nothing to do but to sow the seed at a certain season, and to carry the harvest in three months' time. Very few persons occupy themselves with handicraft. The houses are repaired, or renovated, at the utmost every three or five years ; thus no one has anything to do, and the natives are consequently seen lying about sleeping all the day long. The women attend, indeed, to the domestic duties, but these are inconsiderable, and if their means will permit it, they pass the greater part of the day on the angareb. The men have no amusements; only very few of the Dongolavi smoke tobacco, but the negro tribes indulge the more in this habit.

They take little or no interest in the dances of the women, and when they are tired of lying down, and have slept to their hearts' content, a few neighbours congregate ; and after greetings and mutual inquiries into the state of their health,—a ceremony which generally occupies a quarter of an hour,—the conversation at the most turns upon the governor and the