324 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XL VIII. 
to wait any reasonable time, on condition ' of their 
assigning me a residence, and the means of supplying 
my wants. They expressed their satisfaction at my 
compliance, telling me that in case of my refusal they 
would have sent all the Shiiwa in the neighbourhood 
to harass me on the road. The head man of Mele 
then promised me that, if I would return to his village, 
he would take care that I should be supplied with 
everything I wanted, particularly fowls and milk. 
I therefore allowed Grema to proceed alone, in 
order to take my letters to the capital, while I slowly 
retraced my steps. An hour and a half's march 
along a more direct path brought me back to the 
village where I had first entered this country. 
The position of Mele is not without interest, situated 
as it is upon a steep bank overhanging a large and 
beautiful navigable river, which here changes its 
course from a west-easterly to a south-northerly di- 
rection ; and here I might have indulged a few days 
in contemplating the interesting scenery, if my future 
progress had allowed me more tranquillity. As it was, 
the six or seven days I passed here were spent in 
rather a dull manner ; for the inhabitants became very 
suspicious when they observed that my favourite place 
was the shade of a fine tree at the very brink of the 
shore, from whence I had a view over the river to a 
great extent north and west. Of course there was 
but little communication ; and very rarely a boat was 
seen proceeding in either direction. Now and then the 
sand-bank became enlivened by a crocodile coming 
out of the water to bask in the sun, or by the frolics 
