the mean time, the messenger had orders to procure me a lodging, and see that the crowd did not molest me. He conducted me into a court, at the door of which he stationed a man, with a stick in his hand, to keep off the mob, and then shewed me a large hut, in which I was to lodge. I had scarcely seated myself in this spacious apartment, when the mob entered ; it was found impossible to keep them out, and I was surrounded by as many as the hut could contain. When the first party, however, had seen me, and asked a few questions, they retired, to make room for another company ; and in this manner the hut was filled and emptied thirteen different times. A little before sunset, the king sent to inform me that he. was at leisure, and wished to see me. I followed the messenger through a number of courts surrounded with high walls, where I observed plenty of dry grass bundled up like hay, to fodder the horses, in case the town should be invested. On entering the court in which the king was sitting, I was astonished at the number of his attendants, and at the good order that seemed to prevail among them: they were all seated; the fighting men on the king's right hand, and the women and children on the left, leaving a space between them for my passage. The king, whose name was Daisy Koorabarri, was not to be distinguished from his subjects by any superiority in point of dress; a bank, of earth, about two feet high, upon which was spread a leopard's skin, constituted the only mark of royal dignity. When I had seated myself upon the ground before him, and related the various circumstances that had induced me to pass through his country, and my reasons for soliciting his protection, he appeared perfectly satisfied; but said it was not in his power at present to afford me much assistance; for that all sort of communication between Kaarta and Bambarra had been interrupted for some time past; and as Mansong, the King of Bambarra, with his army, had entered Fooladoo in his way to Kaarta, there was but little hope of my reaching Bambarra by any of the usual routes, inasmuch as, coming from an enemy's country, I should certainly be plundered, or taken for a spy. I f his country, had been at peace, he said, I might have remained with him until a more favourable opportunity offered ; but, as matters stood at present, he did not wish me to continue in Kaarta, for fear some accident should befal me, in which case my countrymen might say that he had murdered a white man. He would therefore advise me to return into Kasson, and remain there until the war should terminate, which would probably happen in the courseof three or four months ; after which, if he was alive, he said, he would be glad to see me, and if he was dead, his sons would take care of me. This advice was certainly well meant on the part of the king ; and perhaps I was to blame in not following i t ; but I reflected that the hot months were approaching, and I dreaded the thoughts of spending the rainy season in the interior of Africa. These considerations, and the aversion I felt at the idea of returning without having made a greater progress in discovery, made me determine to go forwards; and though the king could not give me a guide to Bambarra, I begged that he would allow a man to accompany me as near the frontiers of his kingdom as
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