174 ' DIEMORE— BOQUI. 
this change of colour communicates no disagreeable taste. 
The heat was so great, that my companions and I slept in the 
open air. Under the bentang of Diemore there is a kind of 
alcove, raised three feet from the ground, of considerable width, 
and constructed of trees cleft in two ; this is the bed provided 
for strangers. My body was not accustomed to repose on such 
a couch; I therefore spread a mat upon the ground in the court, 
on which I lay down. No sooner had I fallen asleep than the 
hyaenas, which always precede the lions, awoke me by their 
dismal bowlings ; they were so near me that I heard them 
walking in the midst of the sheaves of millet ; the dogs sought 
an asylum behind me, and durst not bark ; every instant I 
thought these ferocious beasts would have rushed upon us to tear 
us in pieces, and I could not sleep until I ceased to hear them. 
March 17- We halted at Boqui, where we wished to 
procure provisions, but a dearth prevailed in this village, and 
consequently I prepared to leave it, when the chief, apparently 
sixty years of age, begged me to rest there. Mats were 
immediately spread on the ground, and a shelter was made to 
protect me from the sun ; I could not refuse to comply with 
the requests of so obliging an old man. He was unfortunately 
afflicted with elephantiasis, a very common disorder among 
the blacks. Whilst t was writing my journal, he approached 
me, and handing me a piece of paper, requested me to write 
him a charm. When it was finished, he told me, raising it to 
his forehead, that he would sew it in a piece of cloth, and 
