AFRICA. 323 
dered it to be extinguifihed. By tir's proceed^i 
ing we were ourfelves in a degree of darknefsj 
while the fires that furroiinded us would render 
our enemies perfedly viiible if they approached. 
jNo one, however, appeared ; yet they con- 
tinued from time to time to let fly their ar- 
rows at my tent. 
My i^eople would fain have taken It down : 
but this I would not permit, for I was glad 
that its whitenefs rendered it perceptible, and 
that it ferved as a mark to the fhooters. We 
had only to retire from it, and remain at a 
little diftance, to have nothing to fear from 
them : befides, the more they fhot, the fooner 
it was to be prefumed their quivers would be 
emptied, and confequently the fooner would 
they be induced to retreat. 
My only fear was, that, know^ing us to be 
few in number, and themfelves a multitude in 
comparifon, they would direO; their attack ac- 
cordingly. Certainly, if they had furrounded 
us by forming a circle, and had then fallen all 
at once upon our little band, we muft have beeu 
maffacred without refource. But this was be- 
yond their fkill in taftlcs. So fur from form- 
•ing fuch a plan, ,all their arrows came from the 
Y 2 fame 
