INTERIOR OF AFRICA. 227 
people the following particulars ; which, if true, furnish a 
mournful picture of the enormities of African wars. About 
fifteen years ago, when the present King of Bambarra's father 
desolated Maniana, the Dooty of Sai had two sons slain in 
battle, fighting in the king's cause. He had a third son living; 
and when the king demanded a further reinforcement of men, 
and this youth among the rest, the Dooty refused to send him. 
This conduct so enraged the king, that when he returned from 
Maniana, about the beginning of the rainy season, and found 
the Dooty protected by the inhabitants, he sat down before 
Sai, with his army, and surrounded the town with the trenches 
I had now seen. After a siege of two months, the townspeople 
became involved in all the horrors of famine ; and whilst the 
king's army were feasting in their trenches, they saw with 
pleasure, the miserable inhabitants of Sai devour the leaves and 
bark of the Bentang tree that stood in the middle of the town. 
Finding, however, that the besieged would sooner perish than 
surrender, the king had recourse to treachery. He promised, 
that if they would open the gates, no person should be put to 
death, nor suffer any injury, but the Dooty alone. The poor 
old man determined to sacrifice himself, for the sake of his 
fellow-citizens, and immediately walked over to the king's 
army, where he was put to death. His son, in attempting to 
escape, was caught and massacred in the trenches; and the 
rest of the townspeople were carried away captives, and sold 
as slaves to the different Negro traders. 
About noon I came to the village of Kaimoo, situated upon 
the bank of the river; and as the corn I had purchased at Sibili^ 
Gg2 
