128 
DETENTION OF THE AUTHOR AT BANAL 
in the village, great and small, assembled at the door, and 
pushed against it with such violence, that I was obliged to 
support it against their efforts. 1 saw. them through a chink 
stretching out their necks, making signs to me that my head 
would soon be cut off ; others shook their fists at me, while 
some merely made grimaces. Had I answered their insults, 
I should but have exposed my life to imminent danger from 
their ill usage. Wholly absorbed by melancholy reflections, 
I waited with patience for the hour when my supper was 
brought to me. In my adversity I was much more 
sensible of this attention, for I recollected that in France, 
a mayor who stops travellers on account of the irregularity 
of their papers, never gives himself the trouble to supply 
them with food. The chief of the African village, much 
less civilized, but more humane, furnished his prisoner with 
an excellent repast according to the manner of the country ; 
he even had the courtesy to go himself and cut some straw for 
my ass. It must be admitted that this was carrying his kind- 
ness to an extraordinary length. What a lesson, thought I, 
for so many white men entrusted with the execution of the 
laws, and who are so loth to exercise benevolence when it is 
not absolutely prescribed by them ! 
The coolness of the evening invited me to go out of my 
prison, to breathe more freely. I seated myself at my door, 
but unluckily the school was in my neighbourhood. V/hen 
the children had extinguished the fire which is kindled that 
