MR PARK'S FIRST JOURNEY* 37$ 
dom of Tombuctoo, the capital of which is the 
principal emporium of the Moorish commerce in 
Africa. The government is in the hands of the 
Moors, who are more intolerant than in any 
other country. Mr Park was informed, by a re- 
spectable negro, that, when he first visited Tom- 
buctoo, he took up his lodging in a public inn, 
when the landlord conducted him into his hut, 
spread a mat on the floor, laid a rope upon it, and 
thus addressed him : " If you are a Mussulman, you 
" are my friend, sit down ; but, if you are a Kafir, 
" you are my slave, and with this rope I will lead 
" you to market." The present king of Tombuc- 
too is named Abu Abrahima ; his court is splendid 
and magnificent ; he possesses immense riches, and 
the expences of government are defrayed by a tax 
on merchandise. Houssa, the capital of a power- 
ful kingdom, which lies to the eastward, is also a 
great mart of Moorish commerce, more extensive 
and populous than Tombuctoo, which it resembles 
in government and police, as well as in trade. At 
Houssa, the negroes are more numerous than at 
Tombuctoo, and possess a share in the government. 
The Niger passes to the south of Houssa, at the 
distance of two days' journey, but its farther course 
is unknown, and the traders who arrive at Tom- 
buctoo and Houssa, from the east, are ignorant of 
its termination, and only declare, in general terms, 
that it runs towards the rising sun, to the end of 
the world. At Jenne, a language entirely dif- 
