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See also: Negroid See also: people of See also: Senegal, French West See also: Africa
.
They occupy the seaboard between St See also: Louis and Cape Verde and the
See also: south See also: bank of the Senegal from its mouth to Dagana
.
Farther inland the districts of the Walo, Cayor Baol and Jolof (the last, the name of a chief division of the nation, being sometimes used as the See also: national name) are almost exclusively peopled by See also: Wolof
.
The cities of St Louis and See also: Dakar are both in the Wolof country, and throughout the French Sudanno military station is without a Wolof colony, preserving national speech and usages
.
The name is variously explained as meaning " See also: speaker " or " black." The Wolof justify both meanings, for they are at once far the blackest and among the most garrulous of all See also: African peoples
.
They are a very tall See also: race, with splendidly proportioned busts but weak and undeveloped legs and flat feet
.
The Wolof language is spoken throughout See also: Senegambia, and numerous grammars, dictionaries and vocabularies have appeared since 1825
.
There is, however, no written literature
.
The Wolof preserve their national songs, legends and proverbs by memory, but have little knowledge of letters beyond the Arabic characters on their paper spells and amulets
.
' Wolof, a typical agglutinating language, differs from all other African forms of speech
.
The roots, almost all monosyllables ending in consonants, are determined by means of suffixes, and coalesce while remaining invariable in their various meanings
.
By these suffixes the meaning of the words is endlessly modified
.
Most Wolof are nominally Mahommedans, and some near the ChristianSee also: missions profess See also: Christianity, but many See also: pagan See also: rites are still observed
.
Animal worship is prevalent
.
The capture of a See also: shark is hailed with delight, and See also: family genii have offerings made to them, the most popular of these See also: household deities, the See also: lizard, having in many houses a bowl of milk set aside for it daily
.
The Wolof have three hereditary castes, the nobles, the tradesmen and musicians (who are despised), and the slaves
.
These latter are kindly treated
.
Polygyny is customary
.
The old See also: kingdom of Cayor, the largest of Wolof states, has been preserved by the French
.
The See also: king is elected, but always from the ruling family, and the electors, themselves unable to succeed, only number four
.
When elected the king receives a
See also: vase said to contain the seeds of all See also: plants growing in Cayor, and he is thus made See also: lord of the See also: land
.
In earlier days there was the Bur or " See also: Great Wolof," to whom all See also: petty chiefs owed allegiance
.
The Wolof are very loyal to the French, and have constantly proved themselves courageous soldiers
.
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