162 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
perfectly satisfied with my conduct in this af- 
fair, and would wait patiently and peaceably for 
Almamy's decision ; and to convince me of the 
truth of what he asserted, he would send the 
women of his village to the market as usual to- 
morrow. 
The messenger to Almamy did not return be- 
fore the evening of the 28th, when he was ac- 
companied by one of his ministers, a chief priest, 
or, as they call it. Alpha or thierno, bringing his 
sovereign's decision, which, although conveyed 
in many more words than necessary, merely 
went to say, as it appeared to Almamy and his 
good men*, as they call his chiefs and ministers 
(a very ill-placed appellation), that the woman 
came by her death accidentally, I had nothing 
more to do than procure a slave woman of as 
nearly the same age of the deceased as possible, 
and hand her over to Osman. Almamy also 
desired Alpha Mamadoo to say, that he was ex- 
tremely sorry I should have thought it necessary 
to put my child, meaning Shaw (for so he al- 
ways called all my men) in prison, from whence 
he now desired him to be released. 
I represented to Alpha the dislike I had to 
any thing like purchasing a fellow creature, and 
requested that I might be allowed to give the 
Imbey mojubey. 
