I Immediately Snatched Up The
Negro's Bow And Quiver, The Rattling Of Which Made The Man Withdraw;
And My Companion, Looking Out, Assured Me That It Was The Mansa
Himself, And Advised Me To Keep Awake Until The Morning.
I closed
the door, and placed a large piece of wood behind it, and was
wondering at this unexpected
Visit, when somebody pressed so hard
against the door that the negro could scarcely keep it shut; but
when I called to him to open the door, the intruder ran off as
before.
September 16. - As soon as it was light the negro, at my request,
went to the mansa's house and brought away my spear. He told me
that the mansa was asleep, and lest this inhospitable chief should
devise means to detain me, he advised me to set out before he was
awake, which I immediately did, and about two o'clock reached
Kamalia, a small town situated at the bottom of some rocky hills,
where the inhabitants collect gold in considerable quantities.
On my arrival at Kamalia I was conducted to the house of a bushreen
named Karfa Taura, the brother of him to whose hospitality I was
indebted at Kinyeto. He was collecting a coffle of slaves, with a
view to sell them to the Europeans on the Gambia as soon as the
rains should be over. I found him sitting in his baloon, surrounded
by several slatees who proposed to join the coffle. He was reading
to them from an Arabic book, and inquired with a smile if I
understood it.
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