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SEPARATION FROM FRIENDS.

"This proposition was approved and adopted. The thatch was taken from the roof of a hut, and the lion-hunters, supporting the fabric, marched courageously to the field of battle; each person carrying a gun in one hand, and bearing his share of the roof on the opposite shoulder; in this manner they approached the enemy; but the beast had by this time recovered his strength, and such was the fierceness of his countenance, that the hunters, instead of proceeding any farther, thought it pru dent to provide for their own safety by covering themselves with the roof. Unfortunately, the lion was too nimble for them; for, making a spring while the house was letting down, both the beast and his pursuers were caught in the same cage, and the lion devoured them at his leisure, to the astonishment and mortification of the people of Doomasansa, at which place it is dangerous, even at this day, to tell the story, for it is become the subject of laughter and derision in the neighbouring countries, and nothing will enrage an inhabitant of that town so much as desiring him to catch a lion alive."

On the following day, Park separated from the kind friends and countrymen whose society had cheered him for the last five months. About one o'clock in the afternoon he took his leave of Dr. Laidley and the Messrs. Ainsley, and rode slowly into the woods. "I had now," he says, "before me a boundless forest, and a country, the inhabitants of which were strangers to civilized life, and to most of whom a white man was the object of curiosity or plunder. I reflected that I had parted from the last European I might probably behold, and

INVOLUNTARY PRESENT.

33

perhaps quitted for ever the comforts of Christian society. Thoughts like these would necessarily cast a gloom over the mind, and I rode musing along for about three miles, when I was awakened from my revery by a body of people, who came running up and stopped the asses, giving me to un derstand that I must go with them to Peckaba, to present myself to the King of Walli, or pay customs to them." Park endeavoured to make them comprehend, that as the object of his journey was not traffic, he ought not to be subjected to a tax, as were the Slatees, and other merchants travelling for gain; but he reasoned to no purpose. He was told that it was usual for travellers of all descrip. tions to make a present to the King of Walli, and that, without doing so, he could not be permitted to proceed. As numbers were against him, Park thought it prudent to comply with their demands; and having presented them with four bars* of to. bacco for the king's use, he was permitted to continue his journey.

* This standard of value is thus explained by Park, in speaking of the trade carried on by the Africans with the natives of Christendom. "In their early intercourse with Europeans, the article that attracted most notice was iron. Its utility in forming the instruments of war and husbandry made it preferable to all others; and iron soon became the measure by which the value of all other commodities was ascertained. Thus a certain quantity of goods, of whatever denomination, appearing to be equal in value to a bar of iron, constituted, in the trader's phraseology, a bar of that particular merchandise. Twenty leaves of tobacco, for instance, were considered as a bar of tobacco; and a gallon of spirits (or, rather, half spirits and half water) as a bar of rum; a bar of one commodity being reckoned equal in value to the bar of another commodity." To prevent, however, continual fluctuations, "greater precision has been found necessary; and at this time the current value of a single bar of any kind is fixed hy the whites at two shillings sterling."

34

VISIT TO THE KING OF WOOLLI.

On the morning of the 4th of December Park quitted the territory of Walli, and entering the do. minions of the King of Woolli, paid a custom's duty to one of his majesty's officers. At noon on the 5th he reached Medina, the capital of this Mandingo state; he describes it as a place of considerable extent, containing from eight hundred to one thousand houses, and fortified in the common African manner, by a high wall of clay and an outward fence of pointed stakes and prickly bushes. Here he paid his respects to the king, Jatta; a venerable old man, of whom a favourable account had been given by Major Houghton; and requested permission to pass through the territory of Woolli to Bondou. In answer to this request, his majes ty, who was seated upon a mat before the door of his hut, very graciously replied, that he not only granted the permission, but would offer up prayers for his visiter's safety; and, moreover, he promised to furnish a guide for the travellers on the morrow. In the evening Park sent the king an order on Dr. Laidley for three gallons of rum, and received in return a great store of provisions.

Early on the following morning Park paid a second visit to the king, to learn if the guide was ready. "I found his majesty," he says, " sitting upon a bullock's hide, warming himself before a large fire; for the Africans are sensible of the smallest variation in the temperature of the air, and frequently complain of cold when a European is oppressed with heat. He received me with a benevolent countenance, and tenderly entreated me to desist from my purpose of travelling into the interior; telling me that Major Houghton had been

ARRIVAL AT KONJOUR.

35

killed in his route, and that, if I followed his footsteps, I should probably meet with his fate. He said that I must not judge of the people of the eastern country by those of Woolli; that the latter were acquainted with the white men, and respected them; whereas the people of the East had never seen a white man, and would certainly destroy me. I thanked the king for his affectionate solicitude, but told him that I had considered the matter, and was determined, notwithstanding all dangers, to proceed. The king shook his head, but desisted from farther persuasion, and told me the guide should be ready in the afternoon."

About two o'clock the guide appearing, Park took his last farewell of the "good old king," and set forward. He passed the night at the small village of Konjour, where he purchased a fine sheep for some beads, and had part of it dressed for sup per. After the repast a curious dispute arose between one of the Serawoollis, who had acted the part of butcher, and the interpreter Johnson, concerning their respective claims to the horns as a perquisite; Park settled the matter by giving a horn to each of them, and ascertained, upon inquiry, that the eagerness of the competitors for the prize arose from the high value which are attached to these horns, as being easily convertible into portable sheaths or cases, for containing and keeping secure certain charms or amulets, called saphies, which the negroes constantly wear about them. "These saph ies are prayers, or, rather, sentences from the Koran, which the Mohammedan priests write on scraps paper, and sell to the simple natives, who consider them to possess very extraordinary virtues.

of

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SUPERSTITIONS OF THE NEGROES.

Some of the negroes wear them to guard them. selves against the bite of certain snakes or alliga. tors; and on this occasion the saphie is commonly enclosed in a snake's or alligator's skin, and tied round the ankle. Others have recourse to them in time of war, to protect their persons against hostile weapons; but the common use to which these amulets are applied, is to prevent or cure bodily diseases; to preserve them from hunger and thirst, and generally to conciliate the favour of superior powers, under all the circumstances and occurrences of life."

"In this case," adds Park, "it is impossible not to admire the wonderful contagion of superstition; for, notwithstanding that the majority of the negroes are pagans, and absolutely reject the doctrines of Mohammed, I did not meet with a man, whether a bushreen or kafir,* who was not fully persuaded of the powerful efficacy of these amulets. The truth is, that all the natives of this part of Africa consider the art of writing as bordering on magic; and it is not in the doctrines of the prophet, but in the arts of the magician that their confidence is placed."

On the 7th Park quitted Konjour, and on the 8th, about noon, reached the town of Kolor, near the entrance into which he observed hanging upon a tree a sort of masquerade habit, made of the bark of trees, which he learned belonged to MUMBO JUMThis is a strange bugbear, common to all the Mandingo towns, and much employed by the pagan natives in keeping their women in subjection; for,

BO.

The Mohammedan negroes are called bushreens, and the pagans kafirs, infidels, or unbelievers.