From that part of the Niger which forms the southern limit of the great Empire of Cashna, to the Kingdom of Tonouwah, which borders on the coast of the Christians, and of which the Town of Assenté is said to be the capital, a succession of hills, among which are mountains of a stupendous height, diversifies or constitutes the general face of the country. Most of the lands are described as already cleared, but some particular districts are still incumbered with woods of a vast extent; and though for the most part the highlands are pastured by innumerable stocks of sheep, and by herds of cows and goats, and the vales exhibit the captivating view of successive villages, encompassed with corn and rice, and fruits of various kinds, yet there _are_ places of native sterility and eternal barrenness. The combined occupations of the shepherd and of the husbandman compose the general employment of the people; while the cotton cloth, and the goat-skins of the red and of the yellow dyes, that are offered in several of the towns for sale, announce the rudiments of future manufactures, and perhaps of an extensive commerce. Exempted by the nature of their climate from many of those hardships from which, in other countries, dress is the principal protection, a large proportion of the inhabitants wear only the covering that decency requires. But most of the Mahometans, as the mark of a religion which they are proud to profess, adorn their heads with the folds of the turban, and also adopt, at least in some of the States, the cotton shirt, which is so much worn in the empires of Cashna and Bornou. Tents, which are formed of the hides of cows or of buffaloes, and which are peculiarly suited to the shepherd life, are the only dwellings of multitudes of the Negros; while the huts, which others erect with the branches of trees, are of a construction almost equally simple. Several of the towns are described as surrounded by walls; and bows and arrows are mentioned as the common instruments of war. In the description of their Governments, a few instances of small Republics are given; but most of their States are monarchical; and of these, the inhabitants of the Mahometan Kingdom of Degombah are distinguished by the custom of taming the Elephant, and by that of selling for slaves the prisoners they take from such of the bordering nations as motives of religion or of avarice prompt them to invade.