42

ARRIVAL AT BONDOU.

On the 21st of December, about noon, Park entered Fatteconda, the capital of Bondou. As there are no houses of public entertainment in Africa, it is customary for strangers arriving at a town to stand at the bentang, or some other place of public resort, till they are invited to a lodging by some of the inhabitants. Our travellers fol

lowed the usual course, and in a short time received an invitation to the house of a respectable Slatee. An hour had scarcely elapsed before a messenger came to Park from the king, desiring to see him immediately if he were not too much fatigued.

"I took my interpreter with me," says Park, "and followed the messenger till we got quite out of the town, and crossed some cornfields ; when, suspecting some trick, I stopped, and asked the guide whither he was going; upon which he pointed to a man sitting under a tree at some little distance, and told me that the king frequently gave audience in that retired manner, in order to avoid a crowd of people; and that nobody but myself and my interpreter must approach him. When I advanced, the king desired me to come and sit by him on the mat; and, after hearing my story, on which he made no observations, he asked if I wished to purchase any slaves or gold; being answer

together in small granules resembling sago. It is then put into an earthen pot, whose bottom is perforated with small holes ; and this pot being placed upon another, the two vessels are luted together and placed upon the fire. In the lower vessel is commonly some animal food and water, the steam or vapour of which ascends through the perforations in the bottom of the upper vessel, and softens and prepares the kouskous, which is very much esteemed.

VISITS THE KING OF BONDOU.

43.

ed in the negative, he seemed rather surprised; but desired me to come to him in the evening, and he would give me some provisions."

The behaviour of King Almami, as the monarch of Bondou was called, was civil; but Park had heard that his majesty had been instrumental in the robbery of Major Houghton, and therefore felt some distrust. As, however, he was now entirely in the king's power, he thought it prudent, on paying his evening visit, to smooth the way by a present; and he accordingly took with him a canister of gunpowder, some amber, some tobacco, and his umbrella. Deeming it certain that his bundles would be searched, he concealed a few articles in the roof of the hut in which he lodged, and, by an unfortunate impulse of precaution, put on his new blue coat "in order to preserve it." He then repaired to the king's dwelling.

"All the houses," he says, "belonging to the king and his family are surrounded by a lofty mud wall, which converts the whole into a kind of citadel. The interior is subdivided into different courts. At the first place of entrance I observed a man standing with a musket on his shoulder; and I found the way to the presence very intricate, leading through many passages, with sentinels placed at the different doors. When we came to the entrance of the court in which the king resides, both my guide and interpreter, according to custom, took off their sandals; and the former pronounced the king's name aloud, repeating it till he was answered from within. We found the mon. arch sitting on a mat, and two attendants with him. I repeated what I had before told him concerning

44

VISITS THE KING OF BONDOU.

the object of my journey, and my reasons for pass. ing through his country. He seemed, however, but half satisfied. The notion of travelling for curiosity was quite new to him. He thought it impossible, he said, that any man in his senses would undertake so dangerous a journey, merely to look at the country and its inhabitants; however, when I offered to show him the contents of my portmanteau, and everything belonging to me, he was convinced; and it was evident that his suspi. cion had arisen from a belief that every white man must of necessity be a trader. When I had de. livered my presents, he seemed well pleased, and was particularly delighted with the umbrella, which he repeatedly furled and unfurled, to the great admiration of himself and his two attendants, who could not for some time comprehend the use of this wonderful machine. After this I was about to take my leave, when the king, desiring me to stop a while, began a long preamble in favour of the whites; extolling their immense wealth and good dispositions. He next proceeded to a eulogium on my blue coat, of which the yellow buttons seemed particularly to catch his fancy; and he concluded by entreating me to present him with it, assuring me, for my consolation under the loss of it, that he would wear it on all public occasions, and inform every one who saw it of my great liberality towards him. The request of an African prince, in his own dominions, particularly when made to a stranger, comes little short of a command. It is only a way of obtaining by gentle means what he can, if he pleases, obtain by force; and as it was against my interest to offend him by a refusal, I

THE KING'S WIVES.

45

very quietly took off my coat, the only good one in my possession, and laid it at his feet.'

On the following day Park paid another visit to the king, and was then requested to visit the king's wives, who were very anxious to see him. As soon as our traveller entered the court appropriated to the ladies, the whole body surrounded him, some begging for physic, some for amber, and all of them desirous of trying that great African specific bloodletting. There were ten or twelve in number, most of them young and handsome, and wearing on their heads ornaments of gold and beads of amber. "They rallied me," says Park, "with a good deal of gayety on different subjects, particularly upon the whiteness of my skin, and the prominency of my nose. They insisted that both were artificial. The first, they said, was produced when I was an infant, by dipping me in milk; and they insisted that my nose had been pinched every day till it had acquired its present unsightly and unnatural conformation. On my part, without disputing my own deformity, I paid them many compliments on African beauty. I praised the glossy jet of their skins, and the lovely depression of their noses; but they said that flattery (or, as they emphatically termed it, honey-mouth) was not esteemed in Bondou. In return, however, for my company or compliments (to which, by-the-way, they seemed not so insensible as they affected to be), they presented me with a jar of honey and some fish, which were sent to my lodging; and I was desired to come again to the king a little before sunset.

On paying this last visit to the king, Park received from his majesty five drachms of gold, and

1

46

JOURNEY TO KAJAAGA.

the welcome intelligence that he was at liberty to depart; a polite intimation was added, that, though it was customary to examine the baggage of travellers, the ceremony would be dispensed with in the present case. Accordingly, on the morning of the 23d, he left Fatteconda; and, approaching the boundary between Bondou and the kingdom of Kajaaga, through which his route lay next, he found that it would be necessary to continue his journey during the night, as this border district was a dangerous resting-place for travellers. Hiring two guides, therefore, at a small village where he rested, he set out with his party as soon as the people of the place were gone to sleep, the moon shining bright. "The stillness of the air," says Park, "the howling of the wild beasts, and the deep solitude of the forest, made the scene solemn and impressive. Not a word was uttered by any of us but in a whisper; all were attentive, and every one anxious to show his sagacity, by pointing out to me the wolves and hyænas as they glided like shadows from one thicket to another." Towards morning they rested at a small village, and on the afternoon of the 24th arrived at Joag, the frontier town of the kingdom of Kajaaga.

The inhabitants of Kajaaga are Serawoollies; a race whose characteristic is an indefatigable activity in acquiring wealth by the pursuit of trade; they formerly carried on a great commerce with the French, by whom Kajaaga was called Gallam. When a Serawoolli merchant returns home from a trading expedition, the neighbours immediately as. semble to congratulate him upon his arrival. On these occasions the traveller displays his wealth