The Bagos also offer sacrifices at the birth of a child and at the death of a relation. When the head of a family dies, it is very common to burn every thing that is in the house. The goods are packed in boxes, and, before they are thrown into the fire, the virtues of the deceased are enumerated, with some such addition as the following: “See how industrious he has been; how well he has managed his affairs! try to imitate him, that you may be as fortunate as he was.” The riches, all the while, may probably consist of a European hat, trowsers, shirts, and a few other articles of the kind, which he never wore in his life. The bed of the deceased is held in great reverence, and at the foot of this wretched pallet a hole is dug, six feet deep, in which the corpse is buried upright; a fire is kindled over his head every night, and his relations come and talk to him under the idea that he hears what they say. The family of the deceased, who are ruined by this act of superstition, are supported till the next harvest by the inhabitants of the village; for even their rice is not saved from the flames. This beautiful and fertile country produces abundance of palms, from which they obtain a great quantity of oil: this they are very fond of, and use in their cookery. It is with this oil also that they anoint their bodies and heads; they even besmear their clothes with it: they are, consequently, very filthy, and smell of palm-oil to a great distance. They wear nothing but a pagne round their loins; and though they have all the materials for clothing at hand, they will not take the trouble to use them. They wear a copper ring suspended from the cartilage of the nose, and ornament their ears with several rings of the same kind. The women have no other ornament than a few beads. These people are considered thieves by their neighbours; and yet they are very hospitable, which seems scarcely compatible with the vice of which they are accused. They never see a stranger without inviting him to share their repast, and it would be almost an insult to refuse them; they consider it as a kind of contempt, and are much hurt at it. They are warlike, and are often at war among themselves. Whole families sometimes fight to settle their own quarrels, or even those of their ancestors. They are armed with poniards, and defend themselves very skilfully against the blows of their adversaries with large shields made of elephant’s hide. I have been assured that they are not accustomed to make slaves, but kill their prisoners without mercy. The Bagos have no king; each village is governed by the oldest of the inhabitants, who settles their disputes, though they have, like the Landamas, a Simo, who performs the functions of chief magistrate upon important occasions.