316 DESCRIPTION OF SAMBATIKILA. 
sure. The old man again desired me not to forget him when 
I should be among the venerable sheiks of Mecca ; I pro- 
mised that I would not and took my leave. A minute or two 
afterwards he came to the hut where 1 lodged to return my 
visit ; he was on horseback^ and had on his head a straw hat 
large enough to serve for an umbrella. He was going to 
his ouronde to look after his slaves ; he told me he was sorry 
he had not thought in time of having a grigri made by the 
hand of an Arab; he wished me a good journey and left me. 
About ten o'clock, my new guide came to tell me it was 
time to set off; it had been raining all the morning and the 
rain was not yet over, but we did not stop for it. Before 
I proceed, however, I must give some account of the fine 
country which I am leaving. 
Sambatikila is a large village surrounded by a double 
wall ; it is independent and inhabited by Mandingo Musul- 
mans. It is much larger than Kankan, but not so well peo- 
pled ; there are many large vacant places in the interior of 
the village ; the streets are narrow, crooked, and, at this 
season of the year, full of mud. The soil, composed in 
some places of black mould, and in others of grey sand mixed 
with earth, is very fertile, but very little cultivated; the 
country is covered with ces and nedes. The inhabitants are 
engaged entirely in commerce; they go a few days' journey to 
the south of their village to buy colat-nuts, and these they 
carry to Jenne and barter for salt ; this traffic is not very 
lucrative, because the journeys are long and troublesome, 
and they have to purchase food on the road, and to pay for 
lodgings and transit-duty in all the villages. 
A small quantity of very handsome cloth is manufac- 
tured in this neighbourhood, from cotton purchased from 
the Bambaras. The average price of a slave in these parts 
is thirty bricks of salt (a brick is ten inches long, three wide, 
and two or two and a half thick : there are larger and smaller 
bricks, and the value'varies accordingly) a barrel of powder 
