It is during the Ramadan that the boys are circumcised, between the ages of four and twelve; a marabout always performs the operation. The child is not to shew any sign of pain, but is required to hold a bit of wood in his mouth, and pick his teeth with it during the operation. Nothing is applied to the wound but some ass dung mixed with water, and this plaster is allowed to drop off of itself. The boys who have been circumcised run off into the woods, armed with bows and arrows, and amuse themselves with shooting at birds; they do not return to the camp till two o’clock, when they eat sangleh; at night they have nothing but milk for supper. To prevent them from hurting themselves at night while asleep, stakes are driven into the ground about the place where they lie, so that they have not room to turn. The interval between the operation and their entire cure is a privileged time, when they play all sorts of roguish tricks on their parents; but I have been assured that they do not steal, as I have seen the children do amongst the negroes. The girls are circumcised at a year old; the hassanes, like the zenagues, always employ a marabout to perform the operation. At the end of the fast, they celebrate a feast (the Tabasky) which is considered as a great solemnity. All put on their best apparel; a ram is killed, and plenty of sangleh is made: every one has abundance to satisfy his hunger, and it is perhaps the only day in the year when their appetite is completely satisfied. They present one another with millet; but it is rather an exchange than a gift, for they always give to those who have the ability to give to them and not to the poor. This is purely a religious festival amongst the marabouts, and the greater part of the day is passed in prayer; it is a sort of Easter, when custom permits them to eat more than usual. The hassanes make it a day of rejoicing; the men fire off their guns, and perform evolutions on horseback, and the women, assembling round the guéhués, sing to their music, and accompany it by clapping their hands. The feasts of the hassanes are usually gayer than those of the marabouts, because the guéhués, who are present at the former, enliven them by their songs, their music, and their tricks.