INTERIOR OF AFRICA. 71 
accepted his offer ; and was ready, with my attendants, by day- 
light on the morning of the 27th of December. 
My protector, whose name was Demba Sego, probably after 
his uncle, had a numerous retinue. Our company at leaving 
Joag, consisted of thirty persons and six loaded asses ; and we 
rode on cheerfully enough for some hours, without any remark- 
able occurrence, until we came to a species of tree, for which 
my interpreter, Johnson, had made frequent inquiry. On find- 
ing it, he desired us to stop : and producing a white chicken, 
which he had purchased at Joag for the purpose, he tied it by 
the leg to one of the branches, and then told us we might now 
safely proceed, for that our journey would be prosperous. This 
circumstance is mentioned merely to illustrate the disposition 
of the Negroes, and to shew the power of superstition over 
their minds ; for although this man had resided seven years in 
England, it was evident that he still retained the prejudices 
and notions he had imbibed in his youth. He meant this cere- 
mony, he told me, as an offering, or sacrifice, to the spirits of 
the woods ; who were, he said, a powerful race of beings of a 
white colour, with long flowing hair. I laughed at his folly, 
but could not condemn the piety of his motives. 
At noon we had reached Gungadi, a large town, where we 
stopped about an hour, until some of the asses that had fallen' 
behind came up. Here I observed a number of date trees, and 
a mosque built of clay, with six turrets, on the pinnacles of 
which were placed six ostrich eggs. A little before sunset we 
arrived at the town of Samee, on the banks of the Senegal, 
which is here a beautiful, but shallow river, moving slowly over 
