ARRIVAL AT GEBA, A PORTUGUESE SETTLEMENT. 319 
small quantities, they produced a violent paroxysm of fever 
during the night; I therefore resolved the next day (the 19th,) 
to accept the invitation of the commandant of Geba ; and set 
off for that settlement, situated south-east of Kansoraly. As 
soon as I came in sight of this place, inhabited by Europeans, I 
shouted for joy, and cried, Land ! Land ! just as if I had descried 
a harbour after a long and dangerous voyage. My entry had 
something burlesque in it ; a European with a long beard, 
clothed like a Negro, and mounted on an ass, could not but 
attract all eyes ; the inhabitants ran out of their houses to see 
me pass, and seemed to doubt whether I really belonged to the 
race of whites. M. Dioqui, the governor, waited for me at his 
door, and although of a very cold disposition, he came to 
receive me when I alighted from my ass, and took me into his 
house, I must confess that, to European eyes, it suited the 
guest whom he received : it was a large square mud house, 
consisting of a ground-floor, and roofed with thatch ; the light 
penetrated with difficulty : by the side of the Commandant's 
bed room, was the prison for malefactors. A dark hall pre- 
ceded these two apartments, where the Commandant received 
visits ; straw beds are placed all round, on which the Negroes 
seated themselves indiscriminately with the Europeans, from 
whom they were to be distinguished by their colour alone. 
The etiquette of this house was not very troublesome ; you may 
whistle in it, you may sing, lie down upon the bed to sleep, and 
