464 THE AUTHOR'S RESIDENCE. 
girdle^ and mixed my notes in pencil with some leaves of 
the Koran, so that, in case my portfolio should be opened,, 
the papers might be taken for a book of prayers. In the 
event of the notes being discovered, I had determined to say 
that they contained a narrative of the events which had 
occurred to me during my abode among the christians, which 
I wished to communicate to my family. But, in spite of 
all these precautions, I was not without anxiety. 
I took a view of the house in which I was to reside for 
some days. The first story consisted of several galleries, simi- 
lar to those in which I was lodged, two small closets containing 
earthen vessels filled with water, a dirty water-closet, and a 
little court level with this floor, which received light only on 
this side. The ground-floor, which was distributed in the same 
way, consisted of store-rooms for rice and millet, and a 
stable for a horse. These store-rooms received light partly 
from a second court behind the house, and partly from 
a grated opening in the court of the first story. The gallery 
which I occupied was the most convenient and the cleanest 
apartment of the whole. Two staircases led up to it. They 
were made of earth, but were much better and more solid 
than that of the chamber which I occupied on my first arrival 
at Jenne. One of these staircases led to the entrance door, 
and the other to the lower court. Some of the Haggi-Moham- 
med's store-rooms which were filled with sacks of merchan- 
dise, were fastened with padlocks of European manu- 
facture. 
The court on the first story was partly roofed at the four 
corners. Pieces of wood, resting on the walls at little inter- 
vals from each other and covered with earth, formed a sort 
of terrace with a parapet running round it. On this terrace, 
to which there was an ascent of about ten steps, the Moors and 
even the negroes were accustomed to take their supper. 
About noon a female slave brought me a large dish 
of very good rice, seasoned with meat and small onions. 
