Men and women are both employed in digging and washing gold for the Moorish markets. Small shells, called _cowries_, constitute the general currency of Africa. All payments from the king’s household are made in branches containing two thousand cowries each. The women pierce and string these, deducting one-fortieth part as their own perquisite. Four hundred and eighty of these shells are equivalent to a shilling. The Africans are said to manifest a most extraordinary facility in reckoning the large sums exchanged for articles of merchandise. Europeans have been much surprised at this, being themselves unable to calculate so rapidly without the use of figures. The wives of the king of Dahomey, generally to the number of three thousand, are formed into a regiment, part of which act as his body-guard, equipped with bows, arrows, drums, and sometimes muskets. They are regularly trained to the use of arms, and go through their evolutions with as much expertness as any other of his majesty’s soldiers. Captain Clapperton thus describes a visit he received from the king of Kiama: “Six young girls, without any apparel, except a fillet on the forehead, and a string of beads round the waist, carrying each three light spears, ran by the side of his horse, keeping pace with it at full gallop. Their light forms, the vivacity of their eyes, and the ease with which they seemed to fly over the ground, made them appear something more than mortal. On the kind’s entrance they laid down their spears, wrapped themselves in blue mantles, and attended on his majesty. On his taking leave, they discarded their attire; he mounted his horse, and away went the most extraordinary cavalcade I ever saw in my life.” In time of battle the African women encourage the troops, supply them with fresh arrows, and hurl stones at their enemies. In some tribes it is common for them to unite with the men in hunting the lion and the leopard. Mr. Campbell attended a palaver, or council, in Southern Africa. He says, “The speeches were replete with frankness, courage, often with good sense, and even with a rude species of eloquence. The women stood behind and took an eager interest in the debate--cheering those whose sentiments they approved, or bursting into loud laughter at any thing they considered ridiculous.” If the king of Congo dies without sons, his daughter, if she be marriageble, becomes absolute mistress of the kingdom. She visits various towns and villages, where she causes the men to appear before her, that she may select a husband from among them. When her choice is made, she resigns all authority into his hands, and he becomes the king. Every great man has bands of minstrels, of both sexes, who sing his praises in extempore poetry, while they play upon drums, or guitars with three strings.