248 TRAVELS IN THE 
no medicine to stop its progress, nor any hope of obtaining 
that care and attention which my situation required. 
I remained at Wonda nine days ; during which time I ex- 
perienced the regular return of the fever every day. And though 
I endeavoured as much as possible to conceal my distress from 
my landlord, and frequently lay down the whole day, out of his 
sight, in a field of corn ; conscious how burthensome I was 
to him and his family, in a time of such great scarcity ; yet I 
found that he was apprized of my situation ; and one morning, 
as I. feigned to be asleep by the fire, he observed to his wife, 
that they were likely to find me a very troublesome and charge- 
able guest ; for that, in my present sickly state, they should be 
obliged, for the sake of their good name, to maintain me until 
I recovered, or died. 
The scarcity of provisions was certainly felt at this time 
most severely by the poor people, as the following circumstance 
most painfully convinced me. Every evening, during my stay, 
I observed five or six women come to the Mansa's house, and 
receive each of them a certain quantity of corn. As I knew 
how valuable this article was at this juncture, I inquired of the 
Mansa, whether he maintained these poor women from pure 
bounty, or expected a return when the harvest should be 
gathered in. " Observe that boy," said he, (pointing to a fine 
child, about fiveyears of age) ; " his mother has sold him to me, 
" for forty days' provision for herself, and the rest of her family. 
" I have bought another boy in the same manner/' Good God, 
thought I, what must a mother suffer, before she sells her own 
