418 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. L. 
the dawn of this very day, Maina Belademi, who was 
generally esteemed as the most excellent man in the 
country, died, causing a severe loss to the sultan 
himself, whose confidence he enjoyed to the fullest 
extent, having saved the life of his father when per- 
secuted by his facha. 
According to his own request, the deceased was 
not buried in or near the town, but was carried 
a distance of several miles, to a place called Bidden, 
which, as I shall have another occasion to explain, 
was the first seat of Islam in this country, and is still 
the residence of some highly respected religious 
chiefs. 
This sad event, though it was not unforeseen, 
cast a gloom over the whole festival; and it was 
not till about noon that the sultan left the town 
in order to offer up his prayers in the old ruined 
quarter towards the west — for, as I have already had 
repeated occasion to remark, it is a sacred custom all 
over Negroland, that the sovereign of the country on 
this day cannot say his prayers inside the town. 
Having remained in the old dilapidated quarter, in 
a tent which had been pitched for the occasion, till 
after " dhohor," he returned into the town ; but the 
clay, which had begun unfavourably, ended also with 
a bad omen, for in the evening a storm broke out, of 
such violence that three apartments inside the palace 
came down with a frightful crash, and caused a great 
uproar in the whole quarter, as if the town had been 
taken by an enemy. 
