jobson's voyage. 
175 
They quickly erected for themselves hovels with 
the branches of trees ; so that this spot, which 
had before been a complete desert, had now the 
appearance of a little city. At the same time, 
there appeared on the opposite bank five hundred 
men and women, almost savages, clothed only 
with skins of beasts girt round them, ** the tails 
" hanging as from the beasts." The women, 
having never seen a white man, at first ran away 
and hid themselves ; but, on obtaining a glance 
at some strings of beads, they became soon more 
accessible. These, like the others, were " all for 
" salt but, unfortunately, Jobson's slender stock 
was now exhausted. On both sides of the river, 
the commodities offered in exchange were gold, 
ivory, and hides ; the latter of which, however, 
was too bulky to be taken on board the boat. 
Meantime, the English experienced every de- 
gree of cordiality and attention from Buckar Sano, 
whose zeal was doubtless rendered more fervent 
by his being the agent in all their trade, and en- 
joying a per-centage on every transaction. On 
the 8th of February, he invited them to the king's 
residence, in order to be present at a ceremony 
of peculiar import. They found his majesty in 
the open air, with a fire of reeds, and his grandees 
seated round him on mats. Buckar Sano then 
stripped himself naked, and lay down at full 
length upon the ground; whereupon " divers 
14 
