AFRICAN EXPLORERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 57 
hopes. A hut next that in which he slept took fire, and 
the whole town was soon in flames. His interpreter, 
who had made several attempts to rob him, seized this 
opportunity, and fled with a horse and three asses. 
Still the King of Woolli continued his protection of 
the traveller, and loaded him with presents, precious not 
on account of their value, but as signs of the good will 
which they demonstrated. This friend of the Europeans 
was named Djata. Humane, intelligent, and good- 
HOUGHTON CROSSING A RIVER. 
hearted, he wished the English to establish a factory in 
his kingdom. 
Houghton, in a letter to his wife, says :— 
“ Captain Littleton, during a stay of four years here, 
has amassed a considerable fortune. He possesses several 
ships which trade up and down the river. At any time 
one can obtain, for the merest trifle, gold, ivory, wax, 
and slaves. Poultry, sheep, eggs, butter, milk, honey, 
and fish are extremely abundant, and for ten pounds 
sterling a year a large family might be maintained in 
