TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 125 Here is the residence of the king, or Almamy, but it is by no means so large a town as we expected to see in the capital of so thickly inhabited a country. The number of souls do not exceed fifteen or eighteen hundred ; the greater number are either the relatives, slaves, tradesmen, or followers of Almamy, or those of the royal family.

The town is surrounded by a strong clay wall, ten feet high and eighteen inches thick * ; this is pierced with loop-holes, and is so constructed that, at short intervals, projecting angles are thrown out, which enable the besieged to defend the front of the wall by a flanking fire, and answers all the purposes of defence where nothing but small arms is made use of.

The gates, of which there are five, and some of the intermediate parts of the wall, are surmounted by small embattled turrets, nine or ten feet square ; those are likewise pierced with loop-holes, and give to the place a better fortified appearance than any town we had before seen.

Within these outer walls, at the west end of the town, and surrounded by stronger and higher ones of the same materials and form, are the * It waS;, when we saw it, in bad repair, not having been rebuilt since it was partly destroyed by the Kartan army in I8I7.