d, in the intervals between these sentences, he shook a bundle of
rods over the head of the latter, making, at the same time, a noise
which resembled the squeaking of a pig.

I am enabled to communicate but little respecting the religious
sentiments of this people. The duties of the priests appear to be more
surgical than clerical; of which opinion the following are
illustrations: A female applied to one of the priests with an
inflammatory tumour on the hand; after making an incision into the
tumour, and squeezing it in a manner which made his patient grin with
pain, he blew and spat upon the part. Upon another person, who had an
abcess of the eye, with an accumulation of some white matter in it, he
performed the following delicate operation: having first applied his
mouth to the part, he began to suck it with great eagerness and
perseverance, after which he ejected from his mouth a chalky-looking
substance, which he appeared to have extracted from the diseased
structure: this process he repeated several times, with a similar
result. These were, at least, substantial duties.

Our priest had a sacred corner in the hut, with a particular seat which
none else presumed to occupy; the former, a receptacle for dirt, the
latter, formed of a large stone, with four smaller ones, which served
for legs or supporters.

I endeavoured in vain to gain any satisfactory account of their funeral
ceremonies; no indications of graves have been seen by our people, and
the probability is, as is not unfrequently the custom in Africa, that
they bury their dead under the earthen floor of their huts. I know not
whether this opinion will be deemed as confirmed or not by the fact,
that, in returning from a walk, this afternoon, we passed a closed hut,
with five hats hanging in front of it, the owner of which, we were
informed, had died shortly before our arrival.

Our friend Canning supplied us with a fowl for dinner, and, when it was
dressed, appeared perfectly ready to assist us in disposing of it.

The following is, probably, the general mode which these people adopt
of hunting or catching wild animals, of which we had the fortune this
day to meet with a specimen: A goat, which was very wild, had been
secured to a rail, when, taking fright at the approach of my
companions, it contrived, by floundering, to break loose from its
confinement. The King, and some of his chiefs, who were at hand,
immediately ran for some long grass nets, rolled u