authority of Dr. Laidley; who also informed me that the Negroes on the Gambia practice innoculation.

The administration of criminal justice, as far as I had opportunities of observing, was prompt and decisive. For although civil rights were but little regarded in Ludamar, it was necessary, when crimes were committed, that examples should sometimes be made. On such occasions, the offender was brought before Ali, who pronounced, of his sole authority, what judgment he thought proper. But I understood, that capital punishment was seldom or never inflicted, except on the Negroes.

Although the wealth of the Moors consists chiefly in their numerous herds of cattle; yet, as the pastoral life does not afford full employment, the majority of the people are perfectly idle, and spend the day in trifling conversation about their horses, or in laying schemes of depredation on the Negro villages.

The usual place of rendezvous for the indolent, is the king's tent; where great liberty of speech seems to be exercised by the company towards each other, while, in speaking of their chief, they express but one opinion. In praise of their sovereign they are unanimous. Songs are composcd in his honour, which the company frequently sing in concert; but they are so loaded with gross adulation, that no man but a Moorish despot, could hear them without blushing. The king is distinguished by the fineness of his dress, which is composed of blue cotton cloth brought from Tombuctoo, or white linen or muslin from Morocco. He has likewise a larger tent than any other person, with a white cloth over it: But, in his usual intercourse with his subjects, all distinctions of rank are frequently forgotten. He sometimes eats out of the same bowl with his camel driver, and reposes himself, during the heat of the day, upon the same bed. The expences of his government and household are defrayed by a tax upon his Negro subjects, which is paid by every househoulder, either in corn, cloth, or gold dust; a tax upon the different Moorish Korrees, or watering-places, which is commonly levied in cattle; and a tax upon all merchandize which passes through the kingdom, and is generally collected in kind. But a considerable part of the king's revenue arises from the plunder of individuals. The Negro inhabitants of Ludamar, and the travelling merchants, are afraid of appearing rich; for Ali, who has spies stationed in the different towns, to give him in

formation concerning the wealth of his subjects, frequently invents some frivolous plea for seizing their property, and reducing the opulent to a level with their fellow-citizens.

Of the number of Ali's Moorish subjects I had no means of forming a correct estimate. The military strength of Ludamar consists in cavalry. They are well mounted, and appear to be very expert in skirmishing and attacking by surprise. Every soldier furnishes his own horse, and finds his accoutrements, consisting of a large sabre, a double barrelled gun, a small red leather bag for holding his balls, and a powder horn slung over the shoulder. He has no pay, nor any remuneration but what arises from plunder. This body is not very numerous, for when Ali made war upon Bambarra, I was informed that his whole force did not exceed two thousand cavalry. They constitute, however, by what I could learn, but a very small proportion of his Moorish subjects. The horses are very beautiful, and so highly esteemed, that the Negro princes will sometimes give from twelve to fourteen slaves for one horse.

Ludamar has for its northern boundary the Great Desert of Sahara. From the best inquiries I could make, this vast ocean of sand, which occupies so large a space in Northern Africa, may be pronounced almost destitute of inhabitants ; except where the scanty vegetation which appears in certain spots, affords pasturage for the flocks of a few miserable Arabs, who wander from one well to another. In other places, where the supply of water and pasturage is more abundant, small parties of the Moors have taken up their residence Here they live in independent poverty, secure from the tyrannical government of Barbary. But the greater part of the Desert being totally destitute of water, is seldom visited by any human being; unless where the trading caravans trace out their toilsome and dangerous rout across it. In some parts of this extensive waste, the ground is covered with low stunted shrubs, which serve as land-marks for the caravans, and furnish the camels with a scanty forage. In other parts, the disconsolate wanderer, wherever he turns, sees nothing around him but a vast interminable expanse of sand and sky; a gloomy and barren void, where the eye finds no particular object to rest upon, and the mind is filled with painful apprehensions of perishing with thirst.— "Surrounded by this dreary solitude, the traveller sees the dead bodies of birds, that the violence of the wind has brought from happier regions; and, as he ruminates on the

fearful length of his remaining passage, listens with horror to the voice of the driving blast; the only sound that interrupts the awful repose of the Desert."*

The few wild animals which inhabit these melancholy regions, are the antelope and the ostrich; their swiftness of foot enabling them to reach the distant watering-places.On the skirts of the Desert, where water is more plentiful, are found lions, panthers, elephants, and wild boars.

Of domestic animals, the only one that can endure the fatigue of crossing the Desert, is the camel. By the particular conformation of the stomach, he is enabled to carry a supply of water sufficient for ten or twelve days; his broad and yielding foot is well adapted for a sandy country; and by a singular motion of his upper lip, he picks the smallest leaves from the thorny shrubs of the Desert as he passes along. The camel is, therefore, the only beast of burden employed by the trading caravans, which traverse the Desert in different directions, from Barbary to Nigritia. As this useful and docile creature has been sufficiently described by systematical writers, it is unnecessary for me to enlarge upon his properties. I shall only add, that his flesh, though to my own taste dry and unsavoury, is preferred, by the Moors, to any other; and that the milk of the female is in universal esteem, and is indeed sweet, pleasant, and nutritive.

I have observed that the Moors in their complexion, resemble the Mulattoes of the West Indies; but they have something unpleasant in their aspect, which the Mulattoes have not. I fancied, that I discovered in the features of most of them, a disposition towards cruelty and low cunning; and I could never contemplate their physiognomy without. feeling sensible uneasiness. From the staring wildness of their eyes, a stranger would immediately set them down as a nation of lunatics. The treachery and malevolence of their character, are manifested in their plundering excursions against the Negro villages. Oftentimes, without the smallest provocation, and sometimes, under the fairest professions of friendship, they will suddenly seize upon the Negroes' cattle, and even on the inhabitants themselves.The Negroes very seldom retaliate. The enterprizing boldness of the Moors, their knowledge of the country, and, above all, the superior fleetness of their horses, make them

such formidable enemies, that the petty Negro States which border upon the Desert, are in continual terror while the Moorish tribes are in the vicinity, and are too much awed to think of resistance.

Like the roving Arabs, the Moors frequently remove from one place to another, according to the season of the year, or the convenience of pasturage. In the month of February, when the heat of the sun scorches up every sort of vegetation in the Desert, they strike their tents, and approach the Negro country to the south, where they reside until the rains commence, in the month of July. At this time, having purchased corn and other necessaries from the Negroes, in exchange for salt, they again depart to the northward, and continue in the Desert until the rains are over, and that part of the country becomes burnt up and barren. This wandering and restless way of life, while it inures them to hardships, strengthens, at the same time, the bonds of their little society, and creates in them an aversion towards strangers, which is almost insurmountable. Cut off from all intercourse with civilized nations, and boasting an advantage over the Negroes, by possessing, though in a very limited degree, the knowledge of letters, they are, at once, the vainest and proudest, and perhaps the most bigotted, ferocious, and intolerant, of all the nations on the earth; combining in their character, the blind superstition of the Negro, with the savage cruelty and treachery of the Arab.

It is probable that many of them had never beheld a white man before my arrival at Benowm, but they had all been taught to regard the Christian name with inconceivable abhorrence, and to consider it nearly as lawful to murder an European, as it would be to kill a dog. The melancholy fate of Major Houghton, and the treatment I experienced during my confinement among them, will, I trust, serve as a warning to future travellers to avoid this inhospitable district.

The reader may, probably, have expected from me, a more detailed and copious account of the manners, customs, superstitions, and prejudices, of this secluded and singular people; but it must not be forgotten, that the wretchedness of my situation among them, afforded me but few opportunities of collecting iuformation. Some particulars, however, might be added in this place; but being equally applicable. to the Negroes to the southward, they will appear in a subsequent page.

CHAPTER XIII.

Ali departs for Jarra: the author is allowed to follow him thither. The Author's faithful servant, Demba, is seized by Ali's order and sent back into slavery. Ali returns to his camp, and permits the Author to remain at Jarra, who meditates his escape. Daisy, king of Kaarta, approaching with his army towards Jarra, the inhabitants quit the town, and the author with them. A party of Moors overtake him at Queira; he gets away from them; is again pursued by another party and robbed, but finally effects his escape.

HAVING, as has been related, obtained permission to accompany Ali to Jarra, I took leave of queen Fatima, who, with much grace and civility returned me part of my appar rel; and the evening before my departure, my horse, with my saddle and bridle, were sent me by Ali's order.

Early on the morning of the 26th of May I departed from the camp of Bubaker, accompanied by my two attendants, Johnson and Demba, and a number of the Moors on horseback Ali, with about fifty horsemen, having gone privately from the camp during the night. We stopped about noon at Farani, and were there joined by twelve Moors riding upon camels, and with them we proceeded to a watering place in the woods, where we overtook Ali and his fifty horsemen. They were lodged in some low shepherds' tents near the wells. As the company was numerous, the tents could scarcely accommodate us all; and I was ordered to sleep in the open space, in the centre of the tents, where every one might observe my motions. During the night there was much lightning from the north-east; and about day-break a very heavy sand-wind commenced, which continued with great violence until four in the afternoon. The quantity of sand which passed to the westward in the course of this day, must have been prodigiously great. At times it was impossible to look up; and the cattle were so tormented by the particles lodging in their ears and eyes, that they ran about like mad creatures, and I was in continual danger of being trampled to death by them.

May 28th. Early in the morning the Moors saddled their