4a .AOU MUNGO PARK'S T^AJ 
(which were brought to purchase provisions) extorted from 
them by such exorbitant demands. After going back- 
wards and forwards to the king, his Majesty was pleased 
to say he was satisfied ; and what surprised me, said that 
he was coming to pay us a friendly visit in the afternoon. 
He accordingly paid us a visit, attended by a parcel of 
parasites and singing women. Offered me a few Cola 
nuts, which I desired our guide to take and eat ; he like- 
wise told me that I should have a guide to Baniserile. 
June 4th. — Early in the morning departed, and having 
passed the village Eercella, remarkable for a grove of large 
Sitta trees, about one o'clock arrived at Baniserile, and 
halted under a tree near the wells. This being His Majesty's 
birth day, pitched one of the tents, purchased a bullock 
and a calf for the soldiers: in the afternoon had them 
drawn up, and fired ; and made it as much a day of festivity 
as our circumstances would permit ; and though we were 
under the necessity of drinking His Majesty's health in 
tvater from our canteens, yet few of his subjects wished 
more earnestly for the continuance of his life and the pros- 
perity of his reign. 
Baniserile is a Mahometan town ; the chief man, Fodi 
Braheima, is one of the most friendly men I have met with. 
I gave him a copy of the New Testament in Arabic, with 
which he seemed very much pleased. 
