372 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LXIV. 
stay with him a short time, so that I had in conse- 
quence great difficulty in pursuing my march. He 
was a very decent and venerable-looking old man, of 
short stout figure, and with benevolent features, but 
his dress was of the simplest kind, consisting of a 
white tobe and a black shawl. A good many horses 
were pasturing hereabout, but not, as it would seem, 
to the advantage of the rice grounds, as they fed 
mostly on the young shoots. Having then left this 
watercourse at some distance on our right, we reached 
three miles further on the town of Sarayamo, the 
chief place in the province of Kiso. A great many 
people being here collected at the news of our arrival, 
we fired a salute with our pistols, and after a little 
search, owing to the very low entrances of most of 
the huts which would not admit my luggage, ob- 
tained tolerable quarters. 
The town of Sarayamo is formed by an inner city, 
kasr or " koira," consisting of clay dwellings, very 
narrow and uncomfortable ; and a large suburb on 
the east side formed of huts of large size, but all of 
them with very low doors. The courtyard where I 
was quartered was situated at the western border of 
this eastern suburb, on a sloping ground, descending 
towards a small ravine which separates the suburb 
from the kasr, and contained at the time a small 
quantity of dirty water. This situation had the 
disadvantage that, from the opposite slope, every- 
thing that was done in my courtyard could be ob- 
served, and there were a great many curious people, 
