POUKOU — A DIAVANDO. 249 
ground, or an ox hide which is still harder, I began to 
sink under the fatigue. 
At Poukou I saw for the first time an African parasite ; 
but I had no occasion to be astonished at this phenomenon as 
we were then approaching the capital. This man, named 
Alpha, came to partake of our dinner without being invited. 
I was the more surprised at it, as the Africans are remark- 
ably delicate in this particular. As to my fellow travellers 
they could not cease their comments on the audacity of this 
man ; but as the slanderer possesses in Africa as well as in Eu- 
rope the sad prerogative of exciting fear, every body dreaded 
Alpha, who belonged to the class of diavandos to whom I have 
alluded in another place. It needed not much reflection to 
convince me that as a stranger and a white man, I ought to 
court the good-will of one whose tongue might either injure 
or be of service to me : I presented him therefore with a 
necklace of glass beads, which drew from him the most 
bombastic eulogy. 
April 20. Anxious to arrive at Timbo, we started before 
sun-rise ; our route first led over high and steep mountains, 
and we proceeded along deep precipices. On descending from 
these heights into a beautiful verdant valley, watered by a 
limpid stream, we perceived some country-houses belonging 
to rich inhabitants of Poukou. Almost all the Poulas who 
have the means, build such houses in spots where they are 
sure of finding abundant pasturage for their cattle. Our 
