216 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA 
neighbouring villages having fled to it for pro- 
tection. So great was the crowd that many could 
not find room to lie down in the streets. 
On one occasion when all the women were 
busily employed drawing water from the wells, 
where were also many of the men endeavouring 
to procure for their horses a share of the scanty 
and muddy supply they afforded, the alarm was 
given by some people who had been attending 
herds of cattle to the eastward of the town, from 
which direction they were seen running in the 
utmost confusion, the altercations at the wells, 
and the busy scene going on there, soon closed 
by one of a still more extraordinary and con- 
fused nature. The supposed approach of the 
enemy was no sooner made known amongst 
them, than they all, as if by magic, dropped 
their jars, calabashes, and leather bags, and ran 
with all their might to the nearest gate of the 
town, which, being rather narrow, was so much 
crowded, that an old man and a girl about eight 
years of age were trampled to death. 
A council of war, composed of some of the 
princes and their followers, with Almamy at their 
head, assembled between our camp and the 
town. I attended to witness their proceedings, 
which were carried on with the utmost contempt 
to the rules of order or regularity ; every one pre- 
sent proposing some plan of his own, and reject- 
