all the Africans grease their heads and anoint their bodies; a custom said to be necessary to prevent cutaneous diseases, and the attacks of insects, in warm climates. Tattooing is very common, and almost every tribe has a style peculiarly its own. The gold ornaments worn in Africa are generally very massive. The heavy ear-rings sometimes lacerate the ear, to avoid which they are often supported by a band of red leather, passing over the head from one ear to the other. The necklaces and bracelets are sometimes of gold fillagree work, very ingeniously wrought. Daughters of rich families wear a necklace of coral, intermixed with gold and silver beads, which crosses below the breast, and is fastened behind, under the shoulders. The skins of sharks, or strings of beads as large as a pigeon’s egg, are sometimes worn around the waist, and smaller beads decorate the ankles. In Bornou, they frequently wear a piece of coral, ivory, or polished oyster-shell thrust through the nose. African teeth are universally very white and regular. They are continually rubbed with a small stick of tamarind-wood, which they hold between their lips like a tooth-pick. Some tribes on the banks of the Gambia file their teeth to a sharp point. Mollien is, I believe, the only writer who speaks of veils worn by any except the Moorish ladies. He thus describes the sister and niece of a _marabout_,[8] who was his guide: “They had oval faces, fine features, elegant figures, and a skin as black as jet. I was charmed with the modesty of these women; whenever I looked at them they cast down their eyes, and covered their faces with their muslin veils.” The inhabitants of Madagascar are tall, well proportioned, and of a very dark olive complexion. The women wear long robes reaching to the feet, over which is a straight tunic, that covers the upper part of the person. The African women make butter by stirring the cream violently in a large calabash, or shaking it in skins, after the Arab fashion. In the forests of Bambarra is a tree called _shea_, from the kernel of which, when boiled in water, a species of vegetable butter is produced. The women put it down in earthen pots, and preserve it for a long time. Mungo Park says: “Besides the advantage of keeping a whole year without salt, it is whiter, firmer, and to my palate of a richer flavor, than the best butter I ever tasted made of cow’s milk.” Cheese is never made in the interior of Africa. They give as a reason for it, the heat of the climate, and the great scarcity of salt.