INTERVIÉW WtTH A NEGRO éiNG 
151 
pFofesslon, ibr which' they are reckoned infamous, and deprived 
of burial. Their actions are highly gross and indecent : there is 
a party of them for each village; and as they have a right to in- 
sult and injure those against whom they have a complaint, they are 
very well treated during their life, and even enjoy a sort of 
respect; but at their death the people avenge themselves by 
offering the greatest insults to their remains, and generally 
suspend their bodies on a tree. At Senegal, however, where 
the people are more civilized and humane, they are interred like 
the rest. 
Those who accompanied the king of Yolof sung songs in praise 
of his goodness, and celebrated the arrival of a white man. One 
of them carried a mat for the king to seat himself on the instant 
he might wish to rest. On coming up to Rubault, the king receiv- 
ed him with open arms, and taking him affectionately by the hand, 
held it a long time ; he then caused a mat to be spread, and 
placing himself upon it, made the stranger sit on his right-hand- 
Then, after a silence of some time, he asked him what had brought 
a white man into his states, m here one had never arrived before? 
Rubault explained that he had been sent to Galam by M. Durand, 
and was ordered to salute his Yolof majesty, and to express the 
desire of the Trench government to form an establishment in hi^ 
kingdom. This answer pleased the king, who immediately or- 
dered a hut to be prepared for him, to which he was con- 
ducted to repose. About noon, a prince belonging to the royal 
family came w ith great ceremony, to invite him to dinner at the 
hut of the king; on reaching which he observed a young Negress 
washing the sovereign's feet ; she left off as soon as the stranger ap- 
peared, and the king then taking him into another apartment, 
they sat down together on the same mat. They parted with 
great ceremony, an.d the next day the king expressed the high 
satisfaction he felt at the proposition of M. Durand; and assured 
Rubault that he would do every thing in his power to favour the 
French. He then requested the envoy to accept an axe, and 
pressed him to remain some days longer in the village, in order 
that his subjects might see him, and consign the fact to their 
history, that, during his reign, they had had the happiness to 
know that a white man had arrived in their country. 
On the 23d, the king had a long conversation with Rubault, 
with the aid of two interpreters, and informed him, that an escort 
would be ready on the 25th to accompany him to Galam. After 
the conference, the ladies of the court, with their attendants, came 
to visit him; they approached very near to him, seeming to ex- 
amine him widi great curiosity, and described their sensations to 
each other in a very low voice. They all seemed satisfied with 
the sight, and expressing their wishes for his health • and- happi- 
