from the chaff in England. The corn, thus freed from the husk, is
returned to the mortar, and beaten into meal; which is dressed variously
in different countries; but the most common preparation of it among the
nations of the Gambia is a sort of pudding, which they call _kouskous_.
It is made by first moistening the flour with water, and then stirring
and shaking it about in a large calabash, or gourd, till it adheres
together in small granules, resembling sago. It is then put into an
earthen pot, whose bottom is perforated with a number of small holes; and
this pot being placed upon another, the two vessels are luted together,
either with a paste of meal and water, or with cow's dung, and placed
upon the fire. In the lower vessel is commonly some animal food and
water, the steam or vapour of which ascends through the perforations in
the bottom of the upper vessel, and softens and prepares the _kouskous_,
which is very much esteemed throughout all the countries that I visited.
I am informed, that the same manner of preparing flour is very generally
used on the Barbary coast, and that the dish so prepared is there called
by the same name. It is therefore probable, that the Negroes borrowed the
practice from the Moors.

For gratifying a taste for variety, another sort of pudding, called
_nealing_, is sometimes prepared from the meal of corn; and they have
also adopted two or three different modes of dressing their rice. Of
vegetable food, therefore, the natives have no want, and although the
common class of people are but sparingly supplied with animal food, yet
this article is not wholly withheld from them.

Their domestic animals are nearly the same as in Europe. Swine are found
in the woods, but their flesh is not esteemed; probably the marked
abhorrence in which this animal is held by the votaries of Mahomet has
spread itself among the Pagans. Poultry of all kinds (the turkey