TRAVELS IN BARBARA. 
tile laws were vigorously enforced ; the roads were 
cleared of banditti, by whom they had been infest- 
ed ; travelling was rendered secure, and the king- 
dom preserved, during his long reign, in a state of 
tranquillity. His executions, however, were not 
confined to those who had given just cause of of- 
fence ; he maintained always the habit of putting 
to instant death all who became the objects of his 
capricious resentment. The instruments of his vio- 
lence were a body of eight hundred negro guards, 
who formed his chief confidants, and were careful- 
ly trained to their functions. He tried their tem- 
per by furious beating, and sometimes laid forty or 
fifty of them at his feet sprawling in their blood ; 
when such as shewed any sensibility to such treat- 
ment, were considered wholly unworthy of being 
attached to the person of his majesty. These ne- 
groes, on the slightest signal, darted like tygers on 
their victim ; and not content with killing, they tor- 
tured him with such fury, as reminded the spec- 
tators of " devils tormenting the damned.' * A 
milder fate awaited those whom the emperor killed 
with his own hand. He merely cut off their heads, 
or pierced them at one blow with a lance, in the use 
of which instrument he was very skilful, " seldom 
" letting his hand go out, for want of practice. " 
When he came out in the morning, an awful obser- 
vation was made of his aspect, his gestures, and even 
the colour of his clothes; yellow being his " killing 
