MR PARK'S FIRST JOURNEY. S6j 
Next morning, a messenger arrived from the king 
of Bambarra, who inquired if Mr Park had brought 
any present, and was informed that he had been 
robbed of every thing by the Moors. He depart- 
ed, and, in the afternoon, another messenger an- 
nounced the order of the king to leave the vicini- 
ty of Sego, and presented him with 5000 cowries, 
which Mansong, desirous of relieving a white 
man, had sent him to purchase provisions on his 
journey. Mr Park estimates °250 cowries at the 
value of a shilling ; and such is the proportion be- 
tween their value and the price of provisions, that 
a man and his horse can subsist upon 100 for 24 
hours. From the messenger, who was instructed 
to conduct him to Sansanding, if he intended to 
visit Jenne, he learned that the king of Bambarra 
had only been deterred from admitting him to his 
presence by the violence of the Moors, and the ap- 
prehension that it would be impossible to protect 
him from their malignity. The character, indeed, 
in which Mr Park appeared, was extremely suspi- 
cious, and could hardly be distinguished from that 
of a vagabond or fugitive,* When he related to 
the Bambarrans, that he had come from a great dis- 
tance, and passed through many dangers, to behold 
the Joliba river, they naturally inquired whether 
there were no rivers in his own country, and whe- 
ther one river was not like another, over all the 
world. The guide praised the hospitality of the 
