JULY.] JOURNEY BEYOND THE GREAT RIVER. 
341 
wide Stream glided silently along, as if afraid to 
interrupt our discourse; the banks were ornamented 
with trees, decked in green and yellow. The whole 
scene appeared charming and enchanting, far sur- 
passing the heaven described by Mahomet. In an 
hour we came unexpectedly on a Coranna Kraal of 
sixty or seventy persons, dwelling in a beautiful hollow, 
close by the river. I admired the spot they had 
selected for a temporary residence. They were 
equally surprised to see us, as we were to see them. 
The Kraal is called Mabouchoone. They are not 
confined to any particular spot, but move up and down 
the river, as provision for their cattle is plentiful or 
scarce. These people never heard of Europe or any 
of its distractions, but like hermits, live without care, 
affectingly contented with their ignorance of God, of 
the Saviour, and of the rest of mankind. About a 
dozen women were busy in digging a certain kind of 
root which emits a pleasant smell. This they pound 
down and mix with their red paint and grease, with 
which they smear their bodies, to give them a more 
agreeable scent, like our fashionables in England. In 
England the cheeks only are smeared with paint, in 
France they add the neck and bosom, but in this 
country they lay it on from head to foot. 
In this part of Africa there are every where to be 
found, inexhaustible magazines of materials for rearing 
great cities ; especially stone, lime, and slate ; there is 
also a great river, adapted to navigation by small craft, 
