AFRICA. 73 
deavoured to feize it again, and fometimes 
even cattle along with it. 
The articles of trade in that way which I 
had w^ere unknown ; and, with this merit of 
novelty, they could not fail to pleafe. Scarcely 
had I fliewn fome of them, when they .in- 
ftantly excited difputes ; and every one 
wifhed to get a fhare of them. In this refpedl, 
the women were the moft importunate. My 
readers may judge of the general impatience, 
when I inform them, that, in one day, I pro- 
cured twenty oxen for almoft nothing. But 
the moft advantageous bargain I concluded 
was for a bakkely os (^war ox) which belong- 
ed to the chief. 
This animal, as remarkable for his elegant 
form as his gigantic fize, was the moft beau- 
tiful of his fpecies I had ever feen. His head 
was majeftically armed with two immenfe 
horns, which retiring from each other, with 
the utmoft fymmetry, to form two perfedl 
femlcircles, fuddenly bent their fummits for- 
wards, leaving a fpace of four feet eight 
inches between them. They had been made 
to grow in that figure by the chief himfelf ; 
and on this account he placed fo high a value 
oa 
