TRAVELS IN AFRICA 
sitors of all ages and descriptions, coming to 
see, for the first time in their lives, a white man. 
Shortly after our arrival some of the king's 
wives sent us two or three large calabashes, full 
of fine milk and cous cous, which was not at all 
a despicable present. 
Many of the great men of the town paid us 
visits of ceremony and curiosity ; all which we 
would have most willingly dispensed with, but 
they were not to be sent off in a hurry, and we 
were often reduced to the necessity of walking 
out of our huts, in hopes of their doing so too. 
But even this did not always succeed, and we 
were necessitated to submit with an apparent 
good grace to their importunities for presents. 
I do believe they thought that asking alone was 
necessary to the filling of their pockets with am- 
ber, &c., and covering their backs with silks, 
bafts, &c. ; for the procuring of all of which they 
seldom brought any more valuable articles than 
a little milk, or some rice, or corn. Indeed we 
wanted nothing else, but the miserable handfuls 
which they presented, were scarcely worth the 
trouble of receiving, much less giving more than 
the value in return. 
