CHAPTER VIII:

Journey from Kemmoo to Funingkedy.— Some Account of the Lotus. - A Youth murdered by the Moors-interesting Scene at his Death.-Author passes through Simbing.--Some Particulars concerning Major Houghton.-Author reaches Jarra-Situation of the surrounding States at the Period of his Arrival there, and a brief Account of the War between Kaarta and Bambarra.

On the evening of the day of our departure from Kemmoo, (the king's eldest son and great part of the horsemen having returned) we reached a village called Marina, where we slept. During the night some thieves broke into the hut where I had deposited my baggage, and having cut open one of my bundles, stole a quantity of beads, part of my clothes, and some amber and gold, which happened to be in one of the pockets. I complained to my protectors, but without effect. The next day (Feb. 14,)

was far advanced before we departed from Marina, and we travelled slowly, on account of the excessive heat, until four o'clock in the afternoon, when two Negroes were observed sitting among some thorny bushes at a little distance from the road. The king's people, taking it for granted that they were runaway slaves, cocked their muskets, and rode at full speed in different directions through the bushes, in order to surround them, and prevent their escaping. The Negroes, however, waited with great composure until we came within bowshot of them, when each of them took from his quiver a handful of arrows, and putting two between his teeth and one in his bow, waved to us with his hand to keep at a distance; upon which one of the king's people called out to the strangers to give some account of themselves. They said that " they were natives of Toorda, a neighbouring village, and had come to that place to gather tomberongs." These are small farinaceous berries, of a yellow colour and delicious taste, which I knew to be the fruit of the rhamnus lotus of Linnæus. The Negroes shewed us two large baskets full, which they had

collected in the course of the day. These berries are much esteemed by the natives, who convert them into a sort of bread, by exposing them for some days to the sun, and afterwards pounding them gently in a wooden mortar, until the farinaceous part of the berry is separated from the stone. This meal is then mixed with a little water, and formed into cakes; which, when dried in the sun, resemble in colour and flavour the sweetest gingerbread. The stones are afterwards put into a vessel of water, and shaken about so as to separate the meal which may still adhere to them: this communicates a sweet and agreeable taste to the water, and with the addition of a little pounded millet, forms a pleasant gruel called fondi, which is the common breakfast in mány parts of Ludamar, during the months of February and March. The fruit is collected by spreading a cloth upon the ground, and beating the branches with a stick.

The lotus is very common in all the kingdoms which I visited; but is found in the greatest plenty on the sandy soil of Kaarta, Ludamar, and the northern parts of Bambarra, where it is one of the most