Chap. LX. MOHAMMED GALAIJO. 255 
architectural decoration ; but the spacious courtyard 
inside, which was inclosed by a low clay wall, full of 
rubbish and poor mean-looking huts, did not corre- 
spond with the stately character of the entrance. 
However, the dwelling itself, although simple, is not 
so mean, and, besides two spacious clay halls, 
includes some very airy and cool corridors built 
entirely of wood. Having been first received by 
Galaijo in one of the clay halls, I was conducted 
afterwards to a more private audience in one of 
these corridors; and here, while delivering my 
present*, I had a fair opportunity of surveying the 
exterior of this interesting man. 
Mohammed Galaijo, at the time of my visit, was a 
man of about seventy years of age, of an extremely 
pleasant and almost European expression of coun- 
tenance, and of middle stature. He was dressed 
very simply, in a light-blue tobe, with a white shawl 
wound round his face. Galaijo, son of Hambodejo, 
son of Pate, son of Hamed Yella, succeeded his 
father — probably the very chief who treated Mungo 
Park so hospitably during his stay in Masina — in 
the year of the Hejra, 1231. He was then the most 
powerful chief of Masina, or Melle, which, since 
the overthrow of the Songhay empire by Miilay 
Hamed el Dhehebi the emperor of Morocco, had 
been left to itself, and was consequently split into 
several petty kingdoms, the three other powerful 
* The present consisted of a red cap, half a piece of muslin, 
and some smaller articles. 
