Chap. XL VII. THE WATER-KING. 
295 
Delighted with the view which the scenery of the 
river exhibited, we reached the most eastern gate on 
the south side of the town, when suddenly an old 
man with an imperious air forbade me to survey 
the river, and ordered me to retrace my steps di- 
rectly. I was rather startled and confounded, as, 
having the permission of the sultan, I could not 
imagine who besides himself had such authority in 
the place, and could forbid me to do what he had 
allowed me ; but my companion informed me that he 
was the king of the waters, the u maraleghd," and that 
he had full command over the river or " lagham." I 
had heard and read a great deal of the authority of 
the king of the waters, the " serki-n-riiwa," in the 
countries on the Niger, but I was not aware that a 
similar custom prevailed here. Confused, and rather 
ashamed, I re-entered the town through the next gate. 
Close to this gate was the house of the Ghaladima, 
or Malaghwan ; and I was induced to pay him a visit. 
He seemed to be rather an effeminate person, living 
in a dark and well-perfumed room. The visit was of 
no other interest than that it gave me some further 
insight into the ceremonial of the court of this little 
kingdom, the very existence of which was denied by 
so eminent a man as M. Fresnel a few years ago.* 
The first thing I did on returning to my quarters 
was to expostulate with the keghamma on the au- 
thority exercised by his colleague, the king of the 
* Bulletin de la Socieie de Geogr. de Paris, s. III. vol. xi. p. 30 ; 
vol. xiv. p. 159. 
t; 4 
