50 o/'Alexanf^:r Captivity 
then were on run into it; that there was no end (^it; that there 
were plenty of Safina el Kaheer^ or large ships on it ; and that 
they called it Bahdr el Kaheer They stated, that to the 
southward was a harbour called Bambarry * * * § 1*, where a great 
number of ships came. They further stated, that a long way 
to the southward (pointing in that direction), and before they 
were born, there had been great battles, both on the Bahar el 
Kabeer and on land, between the French and English j ; that 
where the battle had been fought on the land, the bones of those 
killed were yet lying. 
At the place where the party landed were a number of huts 
built of logs of wood, placed perpendicularly, lined with canes 
on both sides, with bushes in the intervals, and covered with 
rushes taken from the banks of the Bahar. The name of this 
place is El Tah Sidna Mj.hommed^ signifying The place of a 
chief called Mahommed and the name of the tribe is El Tahsi 
del Hezsh. On landing, the Arabs all kissed the ground three 
times, and washed their hands and faces with sand, as they did 
at all times when they prayed. Scott refused to do so, and the 
men beat him with a stick ; but the women begged he might 
not be further punished. They remained all night at these 
huts, but the next morning at sun rise, they left the village, 
taking Scott along with them, and telling him they were going 
to Hez el Hezsh^ to Sidna Mahommed ; that he must go there, 
change his religion, and be circumcised ; and that if he did not 
become of their religion, Mahommed would rise up and kill him. 
The country bordering on the sea was sandy, but a little way 
back it was a mixture of sand and clay, with many large rocks 
which were quite “ full of chinney weedC called in Arabic Tom- 
ldlet%. They then traversed a mountainous country, by a 
* Great Sea or Water. 
*}• There is a district not far to the south of the Congo River called Bamba, 
where the Portuguese have been in the habit of slaving. But the bones, the 
fighting, and the river, must, in M. Rennell’s opinion, all belong to different 
stories. Scott was young in Arabic ; and the Arabic was not the vernacular 
tongue of his informant. 
:{: When questioned on this head, Scott affirmed, that he is “ certain they said 
Frencese and Inglese ” These negroes were probably slaves brought from a dis- 
tance. 
§ Chinney is the vulgar name for archil,— a substance prepared chiefly from 
Lichen Roccella. 
