ugh if we made a halt. We longed for the night, as it would afford
a temporary relief to our sufferings. It came at last, and the Negroes
collected wood and lighted a fire to keep off the wild beasts, lying
round it in a circle, and placing us in the midst of them. We hoped to
have some rest after what we had gone through, but it was impossible--
the night proved even worse than the day. The mosquitoes came down upon
us in such swarms, and their bites were so intolerable, that we were
almost frantic. Our hands being tied, we could not beat them off and we
rolled over and over to get rid of them. This made matters worse, for
our whole bodies being covered with raised blisters, from the rays of
the sun, our rolling over and over broke the blisters, and the sand
getting into the wounds, added to the bites of the mosquitoes, made our
sufferings intolerable. We had before prayed for night, we now prayed
for day. Some prayed for death.

When the sun rose, we set off again, our conductors utterly disregarding
our anguish, and goading us on as before. In the forenoon we arrived at
a village, where our guards refreshed themselves; a very small quantity
of boiled corn was given to each of us, and we continued our journey,
passing by several small towns, consisting, as they all do in that
country, of huts built of reeds, round in form, and gathered to a point
at top. This day was the same as the preceding. We were pricked with
spears if we stumbled or lagged, threatened with death if we had not
strength to go on. At last the evening arrived, and the fires were
lighted. The fires were much larger than before, I presume because the
wild beasts were more numerous, for we heard them howling in every
direction round us, which we had not done on the night before. The
mosquitoes did not annoy us so much, and we obtained some intervals of
broken rest. At daylight we resumed our journey, as near as we could
judge by the sun, in a more easterly direction.

During the first two days we were badly received by the inhabitants of
the towns, whose people had been kidnapped so often for the slave-trade;
they hated the sight of our white faces, for they presumed that we had
come for that purpose; but as we advanced in the interior, we were
better treated, and the natives looked upon us with surprise and wonder,
considering us as a new race of beings. Some of the women, seeing how
utterly exhausted we were with fatigue and hunger, l