[16]A small basket of straw, resembling those of our shop-keepers: it is used for winnowing the flour for the purpose of separating the bran. The negresses are very expert at this operation, turning out the bran and the imperfectly pounded grain; the flour is left on the layot.
[17]To say prayers.
[18]I had chosen the name of Abd-Allahi as the most satisfactory to Musulman piety; it signifies slave of God.
[19]A sort of round frock without sleeves.
[20]Or hassanyéh. The Moors call those who bear arms hassanes; they are also called harabis.
[21]The marabouts are the priests; they are not armed and do not go to war.
[22]Instead of wool the sheep of this part of Africa are covered with hair; the coat of some of them is so short that it is impossible to shear them.
[23]The Laratines are the offspring of Moors and female slaves; they are slaves themselves, but are never sold, and proud of their origin; they sometimes refuse to obey their master. They are an intermediate race between the Moors and the slaves.
[24]Among the Moors, and also the negroes, it is always a marabout who kills the animals intended for food; they would not eat meat which had been killed by a slave, or even by a man who was not a marabout.
[25]A wandering tribe, spread all over the western parts of Africa. The Laobés are carpenters and pedlars; they are the Jews of this country.