IN WESTERN AFRICA. 
47 
Sometimes in giving the distance from one place 
to another, they say, if you start when sun comes 
up, you catch when he stand so,’^ pointing to the 
sky where they suppose the sun will be when the 
traveler arrives at the place, if the journey be 
made in the common time. These examples fur- 
nish a pretty fair illustration of how clearly and 
definitely they express ideas, as a general thing ; 
but some of their forms of speech are remarkable 
for their pertinence and significance. 
If they wish to tell you that a person is igno- 
rant, — for in that country, as here, they have their 
higher and lower classes, their aristocracy and 
common people, — they say, no light broke upon 
him yet.’’ If they wish to tell you that a judg- 
ment has been sent upon a town, they say that 
town — telling where the place is — catch one God 
flog.” Though these forms of speech are awk- 
ward, yet who can more clearly convey the ideas 
with the same number of words ? 
The English will doubtless eventually be the 
prevailing language among the tribes on the west 
coast. 
