200 TRAVELS IN THE 
but, from the conversation I had with the guide, I had afterward 
reason to believe that Mansong would willingly have admitted 
me into his presence at Sego ; but was apprehensive he might 
not be able to protect me, against the blind and inveterate ma- 
lice of the Moorish inhabitants. His conduct, therefore, was at 
once prudent and liberal. The circumstances under which I 
made my appearance at Sego, were undoubtedly such as might 
create in the mind of the king, a well warranted suspicion that 
I wished to conceal the true object of my journey. He argued, 
probably, as my guide argued ; who, when he was told, that I 
had come from a great distance, and through many dangers, to 
behold the Joliba river, naturally inquired, if there were no 
rivers in my own country, and whether one river was not like 
another. Notwithstanding this, and in spite of the jealous ma- 
chinations of the Moors, this benevolent prince thought it suffi- 
cient, that a white man was found in his dominions, in a con- 
dition of extreme wretchedness; and that no other plea was 
necessary to entitle the sufferer to his bounty. 
