mbitious to
disfigure themselves, and they lacerate their pretty faces most
lamentably. The more wounds these bear on their cheeks the greater
is their grief considered to be. But the corpse being removed the
mourners regale themselves with _Mahaya_, or African brandy, and
make up for their lamentations, by converting their bitter strains
into conviviality.

There is a strange resemblance between this custom and that
practised by the inhabitants of New Zealand; insomuch that we might
imagine the latter to be one of the lost tribes of this
extraordinary people. It is true that we have no record of such a
perfection of navigation as to enable us to conjecture how a tribe
of Jews could reach New Zealand: but many things remain in great
obscurity even in this enlightened age; and we have had no
historical record transmitted to us from the ancients of many
extraordinary discoveries that recently have been made in Egypt.

237

INTEREST OF MONEY.

_Application of the Superflux of Property or Capital._

In this country the law allows no interest of money; the
consequence is, that the country is overwhelmed with usurers, who
exact, generally, an oath of secrecy, and lend money on pledges of
valuable and convertible merchandise: the interest paid on these
negociations is most exorbitant; I have known five, six, eight,
ten, and even twelve per cent, per month paid for the use of money!
There is no paper money in this country; but a bank might be
established at Mogodor, for the convenience of internal trade: the
_sine qua non_ of the bank should be, AN ADEQUATE CAPITAL. The
advantages that would necessarily result from an establishment of
this kind are incalculable; the paper of a bank, _thus
established_, would be current in a short time, UNDER JUDICIOUS AND
INTELLIGENT MANAGEMENT, in all the territories of Sudan, through
the heart of Africa, through Bambara, Timbuctoo, Houssa, Cashna,
Wangara, Bernoh, Fas, and Marocco, and various other countries. The
238 immense advantages of the carriage of paper through the Desert and
through Sudan, _convertible_ into cash at every commercial city,
port, or district in a country like this, would greatly facilitate
the operations of commerce; this must be evident to every political