* 
94 TRAVELS IN THE 
the mean time, the messenger had orders to procure me a lodg- 
ing, and see that the crowd did not molest me. He conducted 
me into a court, at the door of which he stationed a man, with 
a stick in his hand, to keep off the mob, and then shewed me a 
large hut, in which I was to lodge. I had scarcely seated my- 
self in this spacious apartment, when the mob entered ; it was 
found impossible to keep them out, and I was surrounded by as 
many as the hut could contain. When the first party, how- 
ever, had seen me, and asked a few questions, they retired, to 
make room for another company ; and in this manner the hut 
Was filled and emptied thirteen different times. 
A little before sunset, the king sent to inform me that he 
was at leisure, and wished to see me. I followed the messenger 
through a number of courts surrounded with high walls, where 
I observed plenty of dry grass bundled up like hay, to fodder 
the horses, in case the town should be invested. On entering 
the court in which the king was sitting, I was astonished at 
the number of his attendants, and at the good order that 
seemed to prevail among them : they were all seated ; the 
fighting men on the king's right hand, and the women and 
children on the left, leaving a space between them for my 
passage. The king, whose name was Daisy Koorabarri, was 
not to be distinguished from his subjects by any superiority in 
point of dress ; a bank of earth, about two feet high, upon 
which was spread a leopard's skin, constituted the only mark 
of royal dignity. When I had seated myself upon the ground 
before him, and related the various circumstances that had 
induced me to pass through his country, and my reasons for 
