A laughable instance of their dexterity took place in the Great Pagoda, on the night of the 2nd July. The soldiers, for several nights previous, had missed some arms, although a sentry was before the door, and they generally slept with their firelocks by their sides. This evening, every one was on the alert, extra sentries were posted, and every precaution taken to secure the marauders. When, on a sudden, the alarm being given, the officer on duty, who was reposing in one of the little temples, ran to the door and inquired what had occurred,--but hearing that only a knapsack had been found in the grass, and that no other traces existed of the depredators, he turned round to lie down again, and, to his infinite astonishment, found his bed had vanished! A light was in the room, and a servant sleeping near it, yet, notwithstanding, the impudent thieves had also ransacked a basket, and escaped with the contents! We since heard that the robbers were Burman soldiers belonging to the camp at Kumaroot, whither they carried their spoils. They certainly deserved infinite credit for the ingenuity they manifested, and for the manner in which they turned the laugh against us, by showing, that the very moment they chose for their depredations, was one when a strict search was making after them. _Two Years in Ava_. * * * * * MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. No. XII. KANEMBOO MARKET-WOMAN. [Illustration] The people of Kanem, in Central Africa, are known by the name of Kanemboo, and consist of tribes of Tibboos. The women are good-looking, laughing negresses, and all but naked. Most of them have a square or triangular piece of silver or tin hanging at the back of the head, suspended from the hair, which is curiously and laboriously trained, and no one of tender years has anything like a perfect head of hair. From childhood the head is shaved, having only the top covered; the hair from hence falls down quite round from the forehead to the pole of the neck, and is then formed into one solid plait, which in front lying quite flat just over the eyes, and behind being turned up with a little curl, has just the appearance of an old-fashioned coachman's wig in London. The women flock from the neighbouring negro villages to the weekly fsug, or market, with baskets of gussut, gafooly, fowls, and honey, which may be purchased by small pieces of coral amber of the coarsest kind, and coloured beads. Major Denham, in his "Travels in Northern and Central Africa," says "one merchant bought a fine lamb for two bits of amber, worth, I should think, about two-pence each in Europe; two needles purchased a fowl; and a handful of salt, four or five good-sized fish from the lake (Tchad)." SHOUAA WOMAN. _Kingdom of Bornou_. [Illustration]