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APPENDIX. 
are killed in the same place, and die ; and that from the great 
heat. They say, from Tegazza to Tombuctoo are about forty 
days' journey on horseback, and from Tombuctoo to Melli 
thirty. I asked then what the merchants of Melli did with 
that salt. They answered, that a small quantity of it is con- 
sumed in their country, because, from being near to the equi- 
noxial, where the days and nights are equal, they are extreme- 
ly hot at certain times of the year, when their blood putrifies 
so, that if it were not for that salt they would die ; but they 
take a little bit of the said salt, and dissolve it in a cup with a 
little water, and drink it every day, with which they say that 
they preserve their health ; and what remains of the said salt 
is broken into pieces of such size that a man can carry it upon 
his back, and is carried to a great distance. The said salt is 
carried to Melli by the foresaid camels in large pieces hollow- 
ed from the mine, each camel carrying two pieces. At Tom- 
buctoo the negroes break it into more pieces, so that each man 
carries a piece, and thus they form a great army of men on 
foot, who carry it a great way, and in this way they carry it to 
a great water, which they could not say if it was salt or fresh^ 
so that I could not know if it was a river or the sea ; but I 
hold it to be a river, because if it was the sea, there would be 
no need of salt. Having reached this water, they observe the 
following method : — All those who have the salt make piles of 
it in a row, each marking his own, and having made the said 
piles, they all turn back ; then comes another generation of ne- 
groes, who do not wish to let themselves be seen or spoken to. 
They come with large barks that appear to issue from certain 
islands, and land, and having seen the salt, place a quantity of 
gold opposite to each pile, and then return leaving the gold 
and the salt ; and when they are gone, the salt negroes come, 
and if the quantity of gold pleases them, take the gold and 
leave the salt; and in this manner they make their trade 
without seeing each other, by a long and ancient custom : and 
though it appears a hard thing to believe, I certify having had 
