28 
KELKOM. 
which we had halted, opened his door, enquired who we 
were, and begged pardon for having suffered us to pass the 
night in such a situation ; " but," added he, " I took you for 
a troop of Moors." 
. The smalhiess of my baggage allowed us to depart with- 
out loss of time, and we took the road to Gué ; the soil over 
which we passed, consisted of a reddish sand, destitute of 
every kind of culture. 
Desolation reigned at Kelkom, where we arrived at noon. 
The Damel had plundered the village ; some mutilated negroes 
alone remained ; they gave us a dreadful picture of the 
miseries endured by their families. Several of their relatives 
had perished while resisting the sanguinary orders of their 
king, but the greater number groaned in fetters ; others, 
tranquil in their huts, and believing themselves at peace, 
had been sold without their knowledge by this rapacious 
tyrant, who had before hand disposed of their persons and 
their liberty. The inhabitants of this village were not defi- 
cient in industry; they cultivated indigo with care, and 
employed its colouring matter, which they knew how to 
extract, in dying cotton stuffs. 
The sight of this desolate village proved to me, how 
unserviceable to humanity was the generous principle, which 
actuated European philanthropists to accomplish the abolition 
of the slave trade. Can these Negroes enjoy any happiness 
in their own country, under the yoke of princes who have 
