228 AMUSEMENTS OF FUNDAH. 



with horse-races : three or four horses started 

 from the gate, and galloping about half a mile 

 past us, they were pulled up with a jerk which 

 threw them on their haunches, when suddenly 

 wheeling round they came back, and their riders 

 made obeisance to the king. The racing was 

 succeeded by sham fights, the parties alternately 

 retreating and advancing ; and the whole was 

 closed by a general dance, when the best per- 

 former was he who kicked his heels the highest. 

 During the whole time in which these things 

 were going forward the drums were beat, the 

 trumpets brayed, and the fifes squeaked, pro- 

 ducing altogether a discordance of sounds ut- 

 terly indescribable. My Kroomen afterwards 

 trotted out, and, with an air of conscious supe- 

 riority, exhibited their own national dances to 

 the accompaniment of a drum, before the won- 

 dering natives. 



After the dancing, I was politely informed that 

 I had better withdraw, as the king was going to 

 offer up his devotions privately, in a small fetish 

 hut near us. I was accordingly carried back with 

 my curiosity unsatisfied respecting the ceremo- 

 nies he was about to perform, and I never could 

 ascertain whether he was a Mahommedan or a 



