MR PARK'S FIRST JOURNEY. 
363 
itself. Civilized nations praise talents and virtues, 
— savages hunting and fishing. The expences of 
the king of Ludamar are defrayed by the taxes of 
his negro subjects. In magnificence of dress and 
equipage, he exceeds the other Moors, but on com- 
mon occasions, the distinctions of prince and subjects 
are forgotten, and his majesty reposes on the same 
mat, and eats out of the same bow], with his camel- 
driver. Among the Moorish women, corpulence 
and beauty are nearly synonymous ; a perfect 
beauty is a load for a camel, and a fine woman is 
unable to walk without a slave under each arm to 
support her. In order to acquire this artificial 
plumpness, the young girls are crammed, involun- 
tarily, with milk and kouskous, their mothers stand- 
ing over them with a rod to enforce obedience. 
From Wawra, Mr Park proceeded to Diogyee, 
where a Foulah, who received him with great hos- 
pitality, requested, at his departure, a lock of his 
hair, to make a saphie, imagining that a saphie, 
formed of the hair of white men, would bestow 
upon its possessor all the knowledge of the origi- 
nal owner. After indulging the Foulah's desire 
of knowledge, he advanced to Wassiboo, a small 
town in N. lat. 14° 49', where the cultivation of 
corn is carried on to such an extent, that " hunger 
" is never known." Men and women labour in 
concert, and, in planting corn, use a paddle supe- 
rior to that of the Gambian negroes ; but the fre- 
