64 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
bread. This plant, the rhamnus lotus, is indigenous in 
Senegambia, Nigritia, and Tunis. 
“ So,” says Mungo Park, “ there can be little doubt 
of this fruit being the lotus mentioned by Pliny as the 
food of the Lybian Lotophagi. I have tasted lotus 
bread, and think that an army may very easily have 
been fed with it, as is said by Pliny to have been done 
in Lybia. The taste of the bread is so sweet and agree- 
GATHERING LOTUS BERRIES. 
able, that the soldiers would not be likely to complain 
of it.” 
On the 22nd February, Mungo Park reached Jarra, 
a considerable town, with houses built of stone, inhabited 
by negroes from the south who had placed themselves 
under the protection of the Moors, to whom they paid 
considerable tribute. From Ali, King of Ludamar, the 
traveller obtained permission to travel in safety through 
his dominions. But, in spite of this safe-conduct, Park 
was almost entirely despoiled by the fanatical Moors of 
Djeneh. At Sampaka and Dalli, large towns, and at 
Samea, a small village pleasantly situated, he was so 
