84 
JOURNEY FROM KATUNGA TO BOUSSA. 
their mm and European articles. This account I believe to be true, 
as I have seen great abundance of rum, pewter, and earthen ware. 
They begged I would send a letter by them to say I had met them, 
which I shall do to-morrow. They are much superior looking men 
to the people of Wawa, and from their knowledge of white men in 
their own country, have been very civil to me. They seem to en- 
tertain a poor opinion of the courage and behaviour of the people 
of Youri and of this country, and say that with a few men they 
could take them all. 
Thursday, 23d.— I had heard various stories, at different places 
on the road, concerning the fate of the late unfortunate and enter- 
prising travellers Park and Martin, none of which I considered 
worth relating except that which I now heard from the governor’s 
head man ; but they all with whom I have conversed agree in asking 
me if 1 am not going to take up the vessel, which they say still re- 
mains. The head man’s story is this: that the boat stuck fast 
between two rocks ; that the people in it laid out four anchors 
a-head ; that the water falls down with great rapidity from the rocks, 
and that the white men, in attempting to get on shore, were 
drowned ; that crowds of people went to look at them, but the 
white men did not shoot at them as I had heard ; that the natives 
were too much frightened either to shoot at them or to assist them ; 
that there were found a great many things in the boat, books and 
riches, which the sultan of Boussa has got ; that beef cut in slices 
and salted was in great plenty in the boat ; that the people of Boussa 
who had eaten of it all died, because it was human flesh, and that 
they knew we white men eat human flesh. I was indebted to the 
messenger of Yarro for a defence, who told the narrator that I was 
much more nice in my eating than his countrymen were. But it 
was with some difficulty I could persuade him that if his story was 
true, it was the people’s own fears that had killed them ; that the 
meat was good beef or mutton ; that I had eaten more goats’ flesh 
