itself when I come to Bondou.

The Mandingoes, of whom it remains to speak, constitute, in truth,
the bulk of the inhabitants in all those districts of Africa which I
visited; and their language, with a few exceptions, is universally
understood and very generally spoken in that part of the continent.

They are called Mandingoes, I conceive, as having originally
migrated from the interior state of Manding, of which some account
will hereafter be given.

In every considerable town there is a chief magistrate, called the
alkaid, whose office is hereditary, and whose business it is to
preserve order, to levy duties on travellers, and to preside at all
conferences in the exercise of local jurisdiction and the
administration of justice. These courts are composed of the elders
of the town (of free condition), and are termed palavers; and their
proceedings are conducted in the open air with sufficient solemnity.
Both sides of a question are freely canvassed, witnesses are
publicly examined, and the decisions which follow generally meet
with the approbation of the surrounding audience.

As the negroes have no written language of their own, the general
rule of decision is an appeal to ANCIENT CUSTOM; but since the
system of Mohammed has made so great progress among them, the
converts to that faith have gradually introduced, with the religious
tenets, many of the civil institutions of the prophet; and where the
Koran is not found sufficiently explicit, recourse is had to a
commentary called Al Sharra, containing, as I was told, a complete
exposition or digest of the Mohammedan laws, both civil and