ACCOUNT OF TOMBUCTOO. 
491 
and made prisoners of the whole party. After 
being kept four days at Soudenny, they were sent 
forward, under an escort, to Tombuctoo. On 
the road, several of the Moors, who attempted 
to escape, were put to death. 
In twenty-five days they reached Tombuctoo, 
The Moors were thrown into prison ; but Adams, 
being viewed as a curiosity, was taken to the pa- 
lace, where he remained during his residence at 
Tombuctoo. He was treated with kindness, and 
seems to have been an object of much wonder. 
The queen and her attendants often sat gazing 
at him for hours together. Remaining thus for 
half a year at perfect liberty, he certainly pos- 
sessed ample opportunities of observation, and 
gives the following as the general result. 
Tombuctoo appeared to Adams to stand upon 
nearly the same extent of ground as Lisbon ; but 
as the houses are built in a very scattered manner, 
the population is probably not nearly so great. 
The habitations of the principal people were of 
^ square form, composed of wooden cases filled 
with clay and sand, and having all the rooms on 
the ground floor. The huts of the poorer class 
are formed merely of the branches of trees bent 
in a circle, covered with a matting of the palme- 
to, and the whole overlaid with earth. The king's 
house, oj palace, is built in a square of about half 
an acre, enclosed by a mud wall. It consists of 
