In Each Town Is A Large Stage Called The Bentang, Which Answers The
Purpose Of A Public Hall Or Town House.
It is composed of
interwoven canes, and is generally sheltered from the sun by being
erected in the shade of some large tree.
It is here that all public
affairs are transacted and trials conducted; and here the lazy and
indolent meet to smoke their pipes, and hear the news of the day.
In most of the towns the Mohammedans have also a missura, or mosque,
in which they assemble and offer up their daily prayers, according
to the rules of the Koran.
In the account which I have thus given of the natives, the reader
must bear in mind that my observations apply chiefly to persons of
FREE CONDITION, who constitute, I suppose, not more than one-fourth
part of the inhabitants at large. The other three-fourths are in a
state of hopeless and hereditary slavery, and are employed in
cultivating the land, in the care of cattle, and in servile offices
of all kinds, much in the same manner as the slaves in the West
Indies. I was told, however, that the Mandingo master can neither
deprive his slave of life, nor sell him to a stranger, without first
calling a palaver on his conduct, or in other words, bringing him to
a public trial. But this degree of protection is extended only to
the native or domestic slave. Captives taken in war, and those
unfortunate victims who are condemned to slavery for crimes or
insolvency - and, in short, all those unhappy people who are brought
down from the interior countries for sale - have no security
whatever, but may be treated and disposed of in all respects as the
owner thinks proper.
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