When a person of consequence dies, the relations and neighbours meet
together, and manifest their sorrow by loud and dismal howlings. A
bullock or goat is killed for such persons as come to assist at the
funeral, which generally takes place in the evening of the same day on
which the party died. The Negroes have no appropriate burial places, and
frequently dig the grave in the floor of the deceased's hut, or in the
shade of a favourite tree. The body is dressed in white cotton, and
wrapped up in a mat. It is carried to the grave in the dusk of the
evening by the relations. If the grave is without the walls of the town,
a number of prickly bushes are laid upon it, to prevent the wolves from
digging up the body; but I never observed that any stone was placed over
the grave, as a monument or memorial.

Hitherto I have considered the Negroes chiefly in a moral light, and
confined myself to the most prominent features in their mental character,
their domestic amusements, occupations, and diet. Their arts and
manufactures, with some other subordinate objects, are now to be noticed.

Of their music and dances, some account has incidentally been given in
different parts of my Journal. On the first of these heads, I have now to
add a list of their musical instruments, the principal of which are--the
_koonting_, a sort of guitar with three strings;--the _korro_, a large
harp, with eighteen strings;--the _simbing_, a small harp with seven
strings;--the _balafou_, an instrument composed of twenty pieces of hard
wood of different lengths, with the shells of gourds hung underneath, to
increase the sound;--the _tangtang_, a drum, open at the lower end; and,
lastly, the _tabala_, a large drum, commonly used to spread an alarm
through the country. Besides these, they make use of small flutes,
bowstrings, elephants' teeth, and bells; and at all their dances and
concerts, _clapping of hands_ appears to constitute a necessary part of