Chap. XLIX. 
LAID IN IRONS. 
3G5 
moral lecture given me by one of these half pagans, 
who exhorted me to bear my fate with patience, for 
all came from God. 
Even my servants at first were put in irons ; but 
when they protested that if they were not set at 
liberty I should have nobody to serve me, their fetters 
were taken off, and they came faithfully to me to 
soothe my misfortune. In the evening the slave of the 
alifa-ba mounted my horse, and, taking one of my 
pistols with him, rode off to Mas-ena. 
Having remained silently in the place assigned to 
me till the evening, I ordered my servants to demand 
my tent back, and to pitch it in the old place ; and to 
my great satisfaction my request was granted. Thus 
I passed the four following days quietly in my tent, 
and, although fettered like a slave, resigned to my 
fate. Fortunately I had Mungo Park's first journey 
with me; and I could never have enjoyed the account 
of his sufferings among the Ludamar (Welad-Ammer) 
better than I did in such a situation, and did not fail 
to derive from his example a great share of patience. 
It was in this situation that, while reflecting on 
the possibility of Europeans civilizing these countries, 
I came to the conclusion that it would be absolutely 
necessary, in order to obtain the desired end, to 
colonize the most favourable tract of the country in- 
closed by the Kwara, the Benuwe, and the river 
Kaduna, and thus to spread commerce and civiliza- 
tion in all directions into the very heart of the con- 
tinent. Thus I wrote in my journal : " This is the 
