218 
MALI. 
of pistachio-nuts roasted and pounded, and millet flour, the 
whole mixed up in water without salt ; however, the cravings 
of appetite made it seem delicious. We quitted this halting- 
place, and proceeded to Mali, a large village surrounded by 
quick hedges, where we saw a mosque built of earth ; the 
path we followed passed over high mountains, but was agree- 
ably intersected by streams, the water of which was very 
clear. A lodging was assigned to us in a hut that had been a 
goat-house ; the disagreeable smell proceeding from it obliged 
us to sleep in the open air, notwithstanding the cold, which 
was very severe during the night, 
April 4th. Boubou told us that he was obliged to remain 
a day longer at Mali, because he wished to purchase a goat. 
I was not surprised at the time that was expected to be taken 
up by this affair, for in Negroland a bargain for a goat is not 
more quickly concluded than for a slave. It is the same with 
every thing else, and this is the reason why the first virtue 
with a Negro is patience ; and, on the contrary, a hasty temper 
is in their eyes a vice with which they unceasingly reproach us. 
" Do not be in a hurry," is an axiom constantly in their 
mouths ; it is perfectly suited to their natural indolence and 
apathy. The inhabitants of these mountains are so poor that 
we could procure nothing there but a little maize flour, into 
which they poured some juice of the fruit of a tree called 
saugauli. The smell of manna proceeding from this abomi- 
