PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 
315 
arrived there , after which he asked me to wait a moment. 
He went out into the court and returned immediately fol- 
lowed by a slave carrying on her head a calabash of rice, with 
some disagreeable herb sauce, which he gave me he then dis- 
missed me, promising that he would soon find me an oppor- 
tunity for me to go to Jenne. The absence of salt rendered 
this rice unpleasant ; but I had now ceased to be dainty, 
for hunger is sauce to all sorts of food, as I have often ex- 
perienced in the course of my travels. Shortly after a 
Mandingo sent me an excellent dish of rice cooked with 
milk. 
Since the 27th of July the rain had been incessant ; the 
weather was still cold and damp. In the evening of the 1st 
of August, the almamy seat a man to tell me, that there was 
an opportunity for going to Jenne, and that if I liked to take 
advantage of it, he would furnish me with a guide to Time, 
whence the caravan would start. I had a wound on my left 
foot which I was doctoring with lint, and could not heal; 
but I preferred suffering on the road, painful as my wound 
was, to remaining any longer in a place where there would 
soon be a horrible scarcity. I sent word to the chief that I 
wished to set off as early as possible. 
On the 2d of August, at six in the morning, the almamy 
sent me some rice and a piece of a sheep which had been kil- 
led the day before, which I shared with my companions. 
About eight o'clock Arafanba came to me, and we went to- 
gether to take leave of the chief. He called me to his store- 
house, and opened a little door, so low that a man must stoop 
double to enter ; one of his women then drew out a bracelet 
wrapped in rag, of which he made me a present; it was sil- 
ver and worth about three francs ; 1 had brought him a pretty 
present of coloured muslin, paper, and strings of beads. Ara- 
fanba, my former guide, told him that I had very little mer- 
chandise with me and was sorry I could not offer him a 
more suitable present; he smiled and accepted it with plea- 
