396 
SIR ACAN A. 
inhabitants. It is situated in an open plain. The soil^ 
composed of grey earthy mixed with a good deal of sand, 
is in the proper season well cultivated. On my arrival, the 
Bambara at whose hut we went to put up would not let me 
in, because I was white, and therefore, he said, I might bring 
him ill luck. I sat down on a stone near the hut ; and here 
I waited exposed to the heat of a burning sun, until my 
guide and three other Mandingoes succeeded in bring- 
ing the simple and superstitious Bambara to reason. They 
gave him a glowing account of my adventures, and the man- 
ner in which 1 had been carried off by the christians. 
They told him that I was now on my return to my own 
country, near Mecca ; that it would be a meritorious action 
to receive me, and that those who treated me well would go 
straight to paradise. The negro, convinced by these power- 
ful arguments, admitted me into his hut, where I, as well as 
my companions, enjoyed the benefit of the shade. The 
negro was doubtless delighted by the assurance he had 
received of going to paradise, for in the evening he and some 
of his friends came to see me, and sitting down by me, 
they gazed at me attentively. He begged me to excuse the 
reception I had met with in the morning, which he said was 
entirely owing to a mistake, for he at first supposed I was a 
christian. He afterwards requested me to accept a fowl for 
my supper. 
1 saw in this village a female trader and manufacturer, 
a native of Sego. She bought cotton and employed her 
slaves in spinning it. I visited the market, which appeared 
very dull ; it was scantily supplied, and we had some diffi- 
culty in procuring millet for our supper. I saw in the mar- 
ket, cotton, earthen utensils, tobacco, and the fried cakes 
called maumies : the latter were sold by women, whose 
dirty appearance was by no means calculated to tempt cus- 
tomers. There were not altogether more than thirty women 
in the market, which was held under a great bombax. 
