102 
TRAVELS IN THE 
Negroes* own manufacture, did no execution. Shortly after 
this I observed a number of people supporting a young man 
upon horseback, and conducting him slowly towards the town. 
This was one of the herdsmen, who, attempting to throw 
his spear, had been wounded by a shot from one of the Moors. 
His mother walked on before, quite frantic with grief, clapping 
her hands, and enumerating the good qualities of her son. Ee 
maffo fonio, (he never told a lie) said the disconsolate mother, 
as her wounded son was carried in at the gate — Ee maffojonio 
ahada (he never told a lie; no, never.) When they had con- 
veyed him to his hut, and laid him upon a mat, all the specta- 
tors joined in lamenting his fate, by screaming and howling in 
the most piteous manner. 
After their grief had subsided a little, I was desired to exa- 
mine the wound. I found that the ball had passed quite through 
his leg, having fractured both bones a little below the knee : 
the poor boy was faint from the loss of blood, and his situation 
withal so very precarious, that I could not console his relations 
with any great hopes of his recovery. However, to give him a 
possible chance, I observed to them that it was necessary to cut 
off his leg above the knee ; this proposal made every one start 
with horror : they had never heard of such a method of cure, 
and would by no means give their consent to it ; indeed they 
evidently considered me as a sort of cannibal for proposing 
so cruel and unheard of an operation, which in their opinion 
would be attended with more pain and danger than the wound 
itself.- The patient was therefore committed to the care of 
some old Bushreens, who endeavoured to secure him a passage 
