Chap. LVI. PRESENTS, HOW RECEIVED. 
137 
and it was then for the first time that I obtained a 
distinct view of this chief, for on my interview the 
preceding night it had been so dark that I was not 
enabled to distinguish his features accurately. I 
found him a stout middle-sized man, with a round fat 
face exhibiting, evidently, rather the features of his 
mother, a Hausa slave, than those of his father Mo- 
hammed Bello a free and noble Piillo, but full of 
cheerfulness and good humour. His dress also was 
extremely simple, and at the same time likewise bore 
evidence of the pure Piillo character having been 
abandoned; for while it consisted of scarcely any- 
thing else but a tobe of greyish colour, his face was 
uncovered, while his father Bello, even in his private 
dwelling, at least before a stranger, never failed to 
cover his mouth. 
He received me this time with the same re- 
markable kindness which he had exhibited the pre- 
ceding evening, and repeated his full consent to both 
my requests, which I then stated more explicitly, 
requesting at the same time that the letter of fran- 
chise might be written at once, before his setting out 
on his expedition. This he agreed to, but he posi- 
tively refused to allow me to proceed on my journey 
before his return from the expedition, which he said 
would not be long ; and, acquainted as I was with 
the etiquette of these African courts, I could scarcely 
expect anything else from the beginning. He then 
surveyed the presents, and expressed his satisfaction 
repeatedly ; but when he beheld the pistols, which 
