no medicine to stop its progress, nor any hope of obtaining that care and attention which my situation required. I remained at Wonda nine days ; during which time I experienced the regular return of the fever every day. And though I endeavoured as much as possible to conceal my distress from my landlord, and frequently lay down the whole day, out of his sight, in a field of corn ; conscious how burthensome I was to him and his family, in a time of such great scarcity; yet I found that he was apprized of my situation ; and one morning, as I feigned to be asleep by the fire, he observed to his wife, that they were likely to find me a very troublesome and chargeable guest; for that, in my present sickly state, they ¡should be obliged, for the sake of their good name, to maintain me until I recovered, or died. The scarcity of provisions was certainly felt at this time most severely by the poor people, as the following circumstance most painfully convinced me. Every evening, during my stay, I observed five or six women come to the Mansa’s house, and receive each of them a certain quantity of corn. As I knew how valuable this article was at this juncture, I inquired of the Mansa, whether he maintained these poor women from pure bounty, or expected a return when the harvest should be gathered in. “ Observe that boy," said he, (pointing to a fine child, about fiveyears of a g e ) ; “ his mother has sold him tome, “ for forty days’ provision for herself, and the rest of her family. ■ 1 have bought another boy in the same manner." Good God, thought I, what must a mother suffer, before she sells her own child ! I could not get this melancholy subject out of my mind, and the next night, when the women returned for their allowance, I desired the boy to point out to me his mother,, which he did. She Was much emaciated, but had nothing cruel or savage in her countenance; and when she hadI received her corn, she came and talked to her son, with as much cheerfulness as if he had still been under her care. . Sept.; 6th, Two people: arrived from'¡Sibidooloo, bringing with them my horse and clothes; but I found that my pocket compass was broken to pieces. .This was'a great loss, which I could not repair. Sept. 7th. As m y horse.was grazing near the brink of a well, the grouhd gave way, and he fell in. The well was about ten feet diameter, and so very deep, that when I saw my horse snorting in the water, 1 thought it was impossible to save him. The inhabitants of the village, however, immediately assembled, and having tied together a number of withes,* they lowered a man down into the Well, who fastened those withes round the body of the horse; and the people, having first drawn up the: man, took hold of the withes, and to my surprise-pulled the horse out with the greatest facility. T he poor animal was now reduced to a mere skeleton, and the roads were Scarcely passable, being either very rocky, or else full of mud and water; I therefore found it impracticable to travel with him ahy farther, and was happy to leave him in the hands of one Who’I tfiohght would take care of him,: T.’accord- ingly presented him to my landlord ; and -desired him to send * From a plant called habba, that climbs like a vine upon the trees. K k
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