ess, as the king's
messengers who had come to seize him were inside the town.

Being repulsed from another village, he went on till he reached a small
one somewhat out of the road, and sat down under a tree by a well. Two
or three women came to draw water and, perceiving the stranger, enquired
where he was going. On Park telling them to Sego, one of them went in
to acquaint the _dooty_. In a little time the _dooty_ sent for him, and
permitted him to sleep in a large hut.

Next day he again set forward, meeting with the same inhospitable
treatment as before, and having for three days to subsist on uncooked
corn. He was repulsed in like manner from the gates of Taffara; and at
the village of Sooha, which he reached next day, he in vain endeavoured
to procure some corn from the _dooty_, who was sitting by the gate.
While Park was speaking to the old man, he called to a slave to bring
his paddle along with him, and when he brought it, told him to dig a
hole in the ground, pointing to a spot at no great distance. While
the slave was thus engaged, the _dooty_ kept muttering the
words--"Good-for-nothing! A real plague!" These expressions, coupled
with the appearance of the pit the lad had dug, which looked much like a
grave, made Park think it prudent to decamp. He had just mounted his
horse, when the slave who had gone into the village returned, dragging
the corpse of a boy by a leg and arm, which he threw into the pit with
savage indifference, and at once began to cover it up with earth.

At sunset Park reached Koohkorro, a considerable town, and the great
market for salt. Here he was received into the house of a Bambarran
who, once a slave to a Moor, had obtained his freedom and was now a
merchant. Finding that his guest was a Christian, he immediately
desired him to write a _saphie_, saying that he would dress him a supper
of rice if he would produce one to protect him from wicked men. Park
therefore covered the board on both sides, when his landlord, wishing to
have the full force of the charm, washed the writing from the board into
a calabash with a little water and, having said a few prayers over it,
drank the whole draught; after which, lest a single word should escape,
he licked the board until it was quite dry. The _dooty_ of the place
next sent to have a _saphie_ written--a charm to procure wealth. So
highly satisfied was he with his bargain that he presented the traveller
with some meal and milk, and