124 ATTAIi'S GENERALSHIP. 



the manner that the King of Fundah would as- 

 sist him ; that they were determined to con- 

 quer their enemies, and that if he were inferior 

 to them in numbers, he would have recourse to 

 stratagem, by deserting the town on the ap- 

 proach of the Felatahs, and when they had en- 

 tered, he would close upon them and cut them 

 to pieces. After he had made this important 

 communication, he laughed excessively, evidently 

 satisfied with himself for having devised so in- 

 genious a plan of attack. Notwithstanding his 

 high vaunting, I have no doubt that if only a 

 dozen Felatahs were to appear, the king and his 

 people would immediately abandon the town, 

 without daring to return until the enemy were 

 a hundred miles distant from it. 



The queen intimated her intention to honour 

 us with a visit the next day. I could not help 

 smiling at a remark she made, to the effect that, 

 when a king's daughter or head wife visits us 

 on board, we ought to spread cloth over the 

 decks for the bare feet of her majesty. This 

 practice is sometimes adopted in palm-oil vessels ; 

 and I have no doubt but that Aggary, the King 

 of Bonny's slave before-mentioned as trading 

 here for slaves, first put the idea into her head. 



