the dwellings as we pleased, and supplied
ourselves with provisions. Moreover, it was thought preferable to wait
in this village for Ali-Ninpha, than to proceed onwards towards the
borders of the Sanghu. When he arrived, on the second day after the
sad occurrence, he did not hesitate to exercise the prerogative of
judgment and condemnation always claimed by superior chiefs over
inferiors, whenever they consider themselves slighted or wronged. The
process in this case was calmly and humanely formed. A regular trial
was allowed the culprit. He was arraigned on three charges:--1. Want
of hospitality; 2. Cursing and maltreating a Fullah chief and a white
Mongo; 3. Disrespect to the name and authority of his countryman and
superior, Ali-Ninpha. On all these articles the prisoner was found
guilty; but, as there were neither slaves nor personal property by
which the ruffian could be mulcted for his crimes, the tribunal
adjudged him to be scourged with fifty lashes, and to have his
"town-fence or stockade destroyed, never to be rebuilt." The blows
were inflicted for the abuse, but the perpetual demolition of his
defensive barrier was in punishment for refused hospitality. Such is
the summary process by which social virtues are inculcated and
enforced among these interior tribes of Africa!

* * * * *

It required three days for our refreshed caravan to reach the dry and
precipitous bed of the Sanghu, which I found impossible to pass with
my horse, in consequence of jagged rocks and immense boulders that
covered its channel. But the men were resolved that my convenient
animal should not be left behind. Accordingly, all hands went to work
with alacrity on the trees, and in a day, they bridged the ravine with
logs bound together by ropes made from twisted bark. Across this frail
and swaying fabric I urged the horse with difficulty; but hardly had
he reached the opposite bank, and recovered from his nervous tremor,
when I was surprised by an evident anxiety in the beast to return to
his swinging pathway. The guides declared it to be an instinctive
warning of danger from wild beasts with which the region is filled;
and, even while we spoke, two of the scouts who were in advance
selecting ground for our camp, returned with the carcasses of a deer
and leopard. Though meat had not passed our lips for five days, we
were in no danger of starvation; the villages teemed with fruits and
vegetables. Pine-apple