Mr. ParPs journey Into Jfoca. ' 24,* 



he paffed through Yamina, and on the 20th reached Kooli- 

 korro, a great falt-market. On the following day he pro-' 

 ceeded to AJarraboo, and in two days more arrived at Bam. 

 makoo, the frontier of the kingdom of Bambara. 



During the courfe of this peregrination through the king 

 of Bambara's dominions, our traveller had to encounter the 

 tropical rains in all their violence ; and he was principally 

 indebted for his daily fupport to the dooty or chief man in 

 the feveral towns through which he paffed. This officer 

 feems to poffeis in fome refpe&s the authority of mayor in 

 the corporate towns of England ; and it refleds great ho- 

 nour on the police of the African kingdoms, or on the be- 

 nevolent manners of the natives, that it is confidered one 

 part of the dooty's obligation to provide food for the necef- 

 fitous traveller :-To fuffer the king's granger to depart hun- 

 gry, fuch is the phrafe ufed, is an offence of a very heinous 

 nature. On many occafions Mr. Park offered payment, for 

 what he received, out of the kowries that ftill remained of 

 the king's prefent, and his offer was fometimes accepted, 

 and fometimes refufed. On others he remunerated his hod 

 in a fingular manner, the particulars of which deferve to be 

 recited. Among the various impoftures prarlif-d by the 

 Moors towards the poor negroes, they frequently fell them 

 fcraps of paper with an Arabic infcription (commonly a paf- 

 fage from the Koran), which are called faphies or charms. 

 With one of thefe about his perfon, the poffeffor confid-rs v 

 himfelf invulnerable, and neither the lurking ferpent nor 

 the prowling leopard is any longer the objedt of his dread. 

 In the circumftances to which Mr. Parkwas reduced, he had 

 the good fortune to difcover that the negro natives afcribed 

 to h,m the power of granting faphies of even more than 

 Arabian virtue. "If a Moor's faphie is good," faid the 

 dooty of Sanfanding, «a white man's muft be better;" and 

 Mr. Park, at his requeft, gave him one poffeffed of all the 

 virtues he could concentrate, for it contained the Lord's 

 Prayer. The pen with which it was written was made of a 



R jeed j 



