INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF CAYOR. 19 
silence reigned in this assemblage ; a court worthy of a 
tyrant, whose orders are seldom any other than death- 
warrants. Great personages kept arriving every instant, 
and awaited the moment when the king would give them 
audience. 
I announced to the Damel, by my interpreter, that two 
white men were at his door and requested to see him : having 
waited half an hour for his answer, I desired the prince who 
performed the office of chamberlain to ])e told that a white 
man never waited, and departed. 
We had gone but a few paces when the Damel desired 
us to be called ; in consequence we returned to the door of his 
palace, which was a large square enclosure, surrounded by a 
wall of straw ; several huts occupy the interior ; some serving 
for an anti-chamber, others for a stable, and the rest being 
inhabited in turn by the monarch. A porter received us 
at the first door ; we crossed a hut in which several Blacks 
were lying on the ground ; these were a sort of body-guard. 
We then entered a court, which served as a stable for the 
horses of the Damel. They are purchased of the Moors, and 
are thorough-bred Arabians ; their price may gi ve some idea 
of their beauty, being as high as fifteen captives each. On 
reaching a second hut full of guards, we there found a bed, 
on which they desired us to sit down. Here every one depo- 
sited his arms previously to his introduction into the king's 
apartment ; we, as white men, retained ours. Having left 
D 2 
