The Town Has Seven Gates, Four Of Which Are Built Up, In Order To Prevent The People Escaping When They Are Required To Pay Their Duties.

A man is appointed by the sultan to attend each of these gates, day and night, lest any slaves or merchandise should be smuggled into the town.

The people, in building the walls and houses, fabricate a good substitute for stones, which are not to be found in those parts, by forming clay into balls, which they dry in the sun, and use with mud as mortar; the walls are thus made very strong, and as rain is unknown, durable also. The houses, with very few exceptions, are of one story, and those of the poorer sort, receive all their light from the doors. They are so low as to require stooping nearly double to enter them; but the large houses have a capacious outer door, which is sufficiently well contrived, considering the bad quality of the wood, that composes them. Thick palm planks, of four or five inches in breadth, for the size and manner of cutting a tree will not afford more, have a square hole punched through them at the top and bottom, by which they are firmly wedged together with thick palm sticks; wet thongs of camels' hide are then tied tightly over them, which, on drying, draw the planks more strongly and securely together. There are not any hinges to the doors, but they turn on a pivot, formed on the last plank near the wall, which is always the largest on that account.

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