before a large fire.
He begged the English explorer to turn back and not to travel into
the interior, for the people there had never seen a white man and would
most certainly destroy him. Mungo Park was not so easily deterred,
and taking farewell of the good old king, he took a guide and proceeded
on his way.

A day's journey brought him to a village where a curious custom
prevailed. Hanging on a tree, he found a sort of masquerading dress
made out of bark. He discovered that it belonged to a strange bugbear
known to all the natives of the neighbourhood as Mumbo Jumbo. The
natives or Kafirs of this part had many wives, with the result that
family quarrels often took place. If a husband was offended by his
wife he disappeared into the woods, disguised himself in the dress
of Mumbo Jumbo, and, armed with the rod of authority, announced his
advent by loud and dismal screams near the town. All hurried to the
accepted meeting-place, for none dare disobey. The meeting opened with
song and dance till midnight, when Mumbo Jumbo announced the offending
wife. The unlucky victim was then seized, stripped, tied to a post,
and beaten with Mumbo's rod amid the shouts of the assembled company.

A few days before Christmas, Park entered Fatticonda--the place where
Major Houghton had been robbed and badly used. He therefore took some
amber, tobacco, and an umbrella as gifts to the king, taking care to
put on his best blue coat, lest it should be stolen. The king was
delighted with his gifts; he furled and unfurled his umbrella to the
great admiration of his attendants. "The king then praised my blue
coat," says Park, "of which the yellow buttons seemed particularly
to catch his fancy, and entreated me to give it to him, assuring me
that he would wear it on all public occasions. As it was against my
interests to offend him by a refusal, I very quietly took off my
coat--the only good one in my possession--and laid it at his feet."
Then without his coat and umbrella, but in peace, Park travelled onward
to the dangerous district which was so invested with robbers that the
little party had to travel by night. The howling of wild beasts alone
broke the awful silence as they crept forth by moonlight on their way.
But the news that a white man was travelling through their land spread,
and he was surrounded by a party of horsemen, who robbed him of nearly
all his possessions. His attendant Johnson urged him to return, for
certain death awaite