xt to the curious old town itself--and
it is always old--is the market.... Here the women sit and chat all
day, from early morn till nine o'clock at night, to sell their
various merchandise. Some of the sheds however, are occupied by
barbers, who shave people's heads and faces; and by leather
dressers, who make charms like Jewish phylacteries, and bridle
reins, shoes, sandals, &c.; and by dozens and scores of men, who
earn an honest living by dressing calabashes, and ornamenting them
with various neat engravings.[6] ... The principal market hour, and
proper time to see all the wonders, is in the evening.... As the
shades of evening deepen, if the weather allow the market to
continue and there is no moon, every woman lights her little lamp,
and presently the market presents, to the distant observer, the
beautiful appearance of innumerable stars.

The commodities sold in market are too tedious to mention, even if
all could be remembered. Besides home productions, there are
frequently imported articles from the four quarters of the globe.
Various kinds of meat, fowls, sheep, goats, dogs, rats, tortoises,
eggs, fish, snails, yams, Indian corn, Guinea corn, sweet potatoes,
sugar-cane, ground peas, onions, pepper, various vegetables,
palm-nuts, oil, tree-butter, seeds, fruits, firewood, cotton in the
seeds, spun cotton, domestic cloth, imported cloth, as calico,
shirting, velvets, &c., gun-powder, guns, flints, knives, swords,
paper, raw silk, Turkey-red thread, needles, ready-made clothing,
as trowsers, caps, breeches shirts without sleeves, baskets,
brooms, and no one knows what all.

This description was given by Mr. Bowen in his (in many respects)
admirable work, published in 1857, after a missionary residence and tour
of seven years, from 1850 to the time of writing, among the people of
whom he wrote.

Native Houses and Cities

The houses are built of unburnt clay which hardens in the sun, covered
with a beautiful thatch-long, peculiar grass--exhibiting only the walls
to the streets, the doors all opening inside of these walls, which are
entered by a gate or large doorway; the streets generally irregular and
narrow, but frequently agreeably relieved by wider ones, or large, open
spaces or parks shaded with trees; all presenting a scene so romantic
and antiquated in appearance, that you cannot