144 
FAREWELL AUDIENCE OF THE KING. 
shall afford him hospitality, and shall not stop him as far as 
the frontiers." - . ^ 4.. 
f A Negro who performed the duty of aid-de-camp con- 
ducted me to Almamy Mamadou ; I had great difficulty to 
pass through the crowd of warriors who came to pay their 
respects to him, or to receive his orders. This prince was 
seated under a kind of gallery of straw, built in front of the 
hut for him to give his audiences ; he was then engaged in 
making gris-gris for the war. Having approached to thank 
him for the permission he had given me to travel through his 
dominions, he desired me to sit down near him, and twice 
took me kindly hy the hand ; I then untied a cord of red 
worsted which I had been told that he wished for, and made 
him a present of it ; after which I took leave of him and 
went to the house of Aldondou. These were visits of cere- 
mony, the same as in Europe. Aldondou received me more 
coldly than the king had done. From his house I went to 
Almamy of Bondou; he was not then to be seen, and the 
audience was deferred until the evening. Those who impa- 
tiently suffer similar disappointments from our own great 
people, would have been astonished at the patience with 
which I endured all these rebuffs ; but in my situation, I was 
obliged to make a virtue of necessity. I then returned to my 
hut, and prepared for my departure on the following day. 
When night arrived I returned to Almamy of Bondou, whom 
