318 THE AUTHOR RECEIVES AN INVITATION TO GEBA, 
ment he had experienced, had conceived an unbounded admi- 
ration for the Portuguese ; but the town which they inhabited 
had appeared to him as ill built as those of the Negroes. 
When he had exhausted this subject, he began to relate to me 
the manner in which he had been received ; a JolofF had acted 
as his interpreter, and had enabled him to make my wants 
known to the commandant, for no one had been able to under- 
stand my letter, which was written in French. He had, 
therefore, been desired to persuade me to repair to Geba, 
where I should receive every possible attention. The Portu- 
guese had listened to my adventures with deep interest, and 
eagerly desired to see me. Notwithstanding the sufferings I 
endured, and the desire I felt to pass some days with Euro- 
peans, after having been so long deprived of their society, I 
was afraid that the rains, by becoming more violent during 
my stay among them, would prevent me from continuing my 
journey. 
Regardless of the aversion manifested by my guides, 
who were zealous followers of Mahomet, on seeing me uncork 
the bottles which contained a poison so subtle in their opinion 
as wine, I drank a little calebash full of it to the health of the 
Prophet. This cordial, to which I had been so long unac- 
customed, having cheered my spirits, I jocosely asked my host 
to taste it, and in spite of Mahomet he complied. 
Wine, bread, and sugar, were so strange to me after five 
months' want of them, that although I took them in very 
