KING OF ATTAll'S SWAY. 149 



was the ruling man in this part of the country : 

 Fundah pays him tribute, and all the towns on 

 the banks of the river are kept in awe by his 

 numerous canoes, which are continually lurking 

 about stealing children and attacking the de- 

 fenceless villages. Scarcely a night passed but 

 we heard the screams of some unfortunate beings 

 that were carried off into slavery by these villa- 

 nous depredators. The King of Attah's territory 

 extends to the Shary, but how far to the east- 

 ward we had no means of judging. The mes- 

 senger that he had sent up, to say that he had 

 a quantity of ivory, was an impostor ; and the 

 whole, as I suspected, was an artifice to get Mr. 

 Lander or myself into his power. When they 

 found in the canoe that we were aground, they 

 proceeded up the river, and calling at every vil- 

 lage, denounced their master's vengeance on all 

 that traded with us : the consequence of which 

 was, that we could buy nothing alongside, and 

 were entirely dependent on the mountaineers 

 inhabiting the hills under which the Alburkah 

 lay. These people, in the true spirit of their race, 

 acknowledged no ruler but their own. 



I have already alluded to the remarkable table- 

 lands which we saw, but had no idea of their extent. 



