INTERVIEW WITH ABDOULAI. 253 
taking this mission," I added, " I determined to give thee two 
quires of paper." I reserved, as the reader may perceive, the 
most eloquent part of my harangue for the close. Abdoulai 
approved the object of my journey, assured me that no one 
had ever offered to Almamy so magnificent a present as mine, 
and that the inhabitants of Fouta Jallon would gladly go to 
St. Louis. When I told him that I wished to depart the next 
day, he answered that I was at liberty, and that he would give 
me a letter for the governor of St. Louis ; after this he dismissed 
us, and directed us to go through a fort, the mud walls of which 
were twenty feet high, and five thick : people were just then 
employed in its demolition. 
April 22d. I had given away my gun because I feared it 
would be taken from me, the Negroes themselves who pass 
through Timbo being obliged to make valuable presents. 
Mine, however, was not sufficient, another was required of 
me for one Alibiluma, whose authority is almost equal to that 
of the king. I offered ten grains of amber for this personage, 
they were refused ; I then gave twenty, which at last obtained 
permission for us to depart. Abdoulai made me a present, in 
the name of his fellow citizens, of two bags of rice, and when 
we w^ere ready to leave the city, he sent for me to his house 
and said: " I leave thee at liberty to depart or to remain. 
If thou wilt stay here, we will give thee two oxen and a large 
measure of butter." " I shall go," answered I. At these words 
he gave me a letter couched in the following terms: " We 
