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 inclosure, 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
women, had clothes of the blue cotton cloth of the country, that is,
one piece wrapped round the loins and descending to the ankles, and
another worn over their shoulders; but, with few exceptions, all the
rest, as well as the inhabitants generally, were quite naked. So were
we, as the reader may recollect. Round the necks of the women were
rows of gold beads, longer by degrees, until the last of the rows hung
lower than their bosoms, and both the king and they had large
bracelets of gold round their arms, wrists, and legs. The women, who
w