SAR A YA. 
237 
with a dry kind of grass. I think this place must be inun- 
dated in the rainy season by the overflowing of the Ba-ndie- 
gue, the banks of which are well wooded. 
On the 4th of June^ at six in the mornings we left the 
banks of the Ba-ndiegue^ and found the plain covered with a 
beautiful white narcissus. We took a very pleasant road to 
the south-east. About eight o'clock we seated ourselves 
under a large bombax to breakfast. In this part huts are 
erected for the accommodation of travellers^ and I saw many 
ces in the neighbourhood. We now heard the sound of a 
drum proceeding from Saraya, the first village eastward of 
Baleya. After a good breakfast of rice and smoke-dried 
fish^ we proceeded nine miles eastward over a sandy soil. 
The country is very open, and its uniform level is not broken 
by a single hillock. Having crossed the Ba-ndiegue by a 
tottering bridge made of the branches of trees, we reached 
Saraya about three in the afternoon. 
In the plain in which this village is situated I saw 
some slaves at work preparing the ground. They had a 
drum to stimulate them at their labour. It was the beat of 
this drum that we heard in the morning. In some parts of 
Africa nothing is done except to the sound of music. Lamfia 
called to see a man of his acquaintance, who gave us one of 
his huts to lodge in. On hearing that an Arab sherif had 
arrived, the inhabitants thronged to see me. They gazed at 
me with great curiosity, and said that they had seen Sou- 
locas* before ; but none so white as I was. Lamfia told 
them my history, and our hut was full of visiters the whole 
evening. My umbrella, which I shewed them, strongly ex- 
cited their curiosity. Those who went away, described the 
wonder to their friends, who came in their turn to get a 
peep at it. We made a good supper, which I purchased for 
about three charges of gunpowder. 
* Arabs or Musulmans in general. 
