INTERIOR OF AFRICA, I43 
that the Bambarra army was approaching the frontiers of Lu- 
damar. This threw the whole country into confusion ; and in 
the afternoon Ah's son with about twenty horsemen arrived at 
Benowm. He ordered all the cattle to be driven away imme- 
diately, all the tents to be struck, and the people to hold them- 
selves in readiness to depart at daylight the next morning. 
April 30th. At daybreak the whole camp was in motion. The 
baggage was carried upon bullocks, the two tent poles being 
placed one on each side, and the different wooden articles of the 
tent distributed in like manner ; the tent cloth was thrown over 
ail, and upon this was commonly placed one or two women ; 
for the Moorish women are very bad walkers. The king's fa- 
vourite concubines rode upon camels, with a saddle of a parti- 
cular construction, and a canopy to shelter them from the sun. 
We proceeded to the northward until noon, when the king's 
son ordered the whole company, except two tents, to enter a 
thick low wood, which was upon our right. I was sent along 
with the two tents, and arrived in the evening at a Negro town 
called Farani : here we pitched the tents in an open place, at 
no great distance from the town. 
The hurry and confusion which attended this decampment, 
prevented the slaves from dressing the usual quantity of victuals; 
and lest their dry provisions should be exhausted before they 
reached their place of destination, (for as yet none but Ali and 
the chief men knew whither we Vvere going,) they thought 
proper to make me observe this day as a day of fasting. 
May 1st. As I had some reason to suspect that this day was 
also to be considered as a fast, I went in the morning to the 
