traverse through the wood we subsisted solely
upon the birds and animals which the Negroes killed with their bows and
arrows.

When we had forced our way through the forest, we found the country, as
before, interspersed with wicker villages or small hamlets at a few
miles' distance from each other. Round each village there were small
patches of Guinea corn, and we frequently came to clusters of huts which
had been deserted. Between the sea-coast and the desert we had
traversed we observed that many of the inhabitants had European
fire-arms, but now the only weapons to be seen were spears and bows and
arrows. As we advanced we were surrounded at every village by the
natives, who looked upon us with surprise and astonishment, examining
us, and evidently considering us a new species. One morning we arrived
at a very large Negro town, and as we approached, our guards began to
swell with pride and exultation, and drove us before them among the
crowds of inhabitants, singing songs of triumph, and brandishing their
weapons. Having been driven through a great part of the town, we
arrived at a number of huts separated by a high palisade from the rest,
and appropriated, as we afterwards found, to the use of the king of the
country, his wives and attendants. Here we waited outside some time,
while our guards went in and acquainted this royal personage with the
present which they had brought for him.

We had reason to think that our captors were not his subjects, but had
been at variance with him, and had brought us as a present, that they
might make peace with an enemy too strong for them. We were at last
ordered to go inside the enclosure, and found ourselves in a large open
building, constructed like the others, of reeds and boughs. In the
centre was squatted a ferocious-looking old Negro, attended by four
young Negro women. He was raw-boned and lean, and of a very large
frame. A diabolical ferocity was imprinted on his grim countenance, and
as he moved his arms and legs he showed that under his loose skin there
was a muscle of extraordinary power. I never had before seen such a
living type of brutal strength and barbarity. On a mat before him were
provisions of different kinds. Behind him stood several grim savages
who held his weapons, and on each side, at a greater distance, were rows
of Negroes, with their heads bent down and their arms crossed, awaiting
his orders. The chief or king, as well as the four wome