38 TRAVELS IN THE 
head, but desisted from further persuasion ; and told me the 
guide should be ready in the afternoon. 
About two o'clock, the guide appearing, I went and took my 
last farewell of the good old king, and in three hours reached 
Konjour, a small village, where we determined to rest for the 
night. Here I purchased a fine sheep for some beads, and my 
Serawoolli attendants killed it with all the ceremonies pre- 
scribed by their religion : part of it was dressed for supper; 
after which a dispute arose between one of the Serawoolli 
Negroes and Johnson, my interpreter, about the sheep's horns. 
The former claimed the horns as his perquisite, for having acted 
the part of our butcher, and Johnson contested the claim. I 
settled the matter by giving a horn to each of them. This 
trifling incident is mentioned as introductory to what follows : 
for it appeared on inquiry tliat these horns were highly 
valued, as being easily convertible into portable sheaths, or 
cases, for containing and keeping secure certain charms or 
amulets called saphies, which the Negroes constantly wear about 
them. These saphies are prayers, or rather sentences, from the 
Koran, which the Mahomedan priests write on scraps of paper, and 
sell to the simple natives, who consider them to possess very ex- 
traordinary virtues. Some of the Negroes wear them to guard 
themselves against the bite of snakes or alligators ; and on this oc- 
casion the saphie is commonly inclosed in a snake's or alligator's 
skin, and tied round the ancle. Others have recourse to them in 
time of war, to protect their persons against hostile weapons ; but 
the common use to which these amulets are applied, is to pre- 
vent or cure bodily diseases ; to preserve from hunger and thirst, 
