serfs or negroes liable to be made so, we found the houses
bare. The poor wretches had learned, on the day of my reception, that
the principal object of my journey was to obtain slaves, and, of
course, they imagined that the only object of my foray in their
neighborhood, was to seize the gang and bear it abroad in bondage.
Accordingly, we tarried only a few minutes in Findo, and dashed off to
Furo; but here, too, the blacks had been panic struck, and escaped so
hurriedly that they left their pots of rice, vegetables, and meat
boiling in their sheds. Furo was absolutely stripped of inhabitants;
the veteran chief of the village did not even remain to do the honors
for his affrighted brethren. Ahmah-de-Bellah laughed heartily at the
terror I inspired; but I confess I could not help feeling sadly
mortified when I found my presence shunned as a pestilence.

The native villages through which I passed on this excursion
manifested the great comfort in which these Africans live throughout
their prolific land, when unassailed by the desolating wars that are
kept up for slave-trade. It was the height of the dry season, when
every thing was parched by the sun, yet I could trace the outlines of
fine plantations, gardens, and rice-fields. Every where I found
abundance of peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and
cassava; while tasteful fences were garlanded with immense vines and
flowers. Fowls, goats, sheep, and oxen, stalked about in innumerable
flocks, and from every domicil depended a paper, inscribed with a
charm from the Koran to keep off thieves and witches.

My walks through Timbo were promoted by the constant efforts of my
entertainers to shield me from intrusive curiosity. Whenever I sallied
forth, two townsfolk in authority were sent forward to warn the public
that the Furtoo desired to promenade without a mob at his heels. These
lusty criers stationed themselves at the corners with an iron
triangle, which they rattled to call attention to the king's command;
and, in a short time, the highways were so clear of people, who feared
a _bastinado_, that I found my loneliness rather disagreeable than
otherwise. _Every person I saw, shunned me._ When I called the
children or little girls,--they fled from me. My reputation as a
slaver in the villages, and the fear of a lash in the town, furnished
me much more solitude than is generally agreeable to a sensitive
traveller.

Towards nightfall I left my companions, and