where, in
ancient time, the souls of good men were supposed to wander. The
woods rang with the song of the nightbirds, and the hum of the
insects, which continued to salute them with little intermission
till about ten o'clock at night, when they entered Laatoo, a large
and pleasant town. Here they were informed that no house would be
offered them, the fetish priest having declared that the moment a
white man should enter the dwellings of the inhabitants, they would
be seized by their enemies and enslaved. They arrived thirsty and
exhausted, but for a long time could not procure even a drop of
water. Their tent had been left on the road for want of carriers,
and they had made up their minds to rest under a tree, when about
two hours afterwards it was fortunately brought into the town.
They fixed it immediately, and having succeeded in procuring
some wood from the inhospitable inhabitants, they kindled a fire
in front of it, and whilst their attendants laid themselves in groups
outside, the Landers attempted to sleep within their tent, but it
was in vain, so tormented were they with the mosquitoes and the
ants.

Before sunrise, on the morning of the 5th of April, they were all on
the alert, and struck their tent at a very early hour, they then sent
the carriers onwards with the luggage and hastily left the town,
without bidding adieu either to the chief or any of his people, on
account of their inhospitality, and in an hour's time reached the
extensive and important town of Larro. On dismounting, they were
first led to a large cleanly swept square, wherein was preserved the
fetish of the place, which is the model of a canoe, having three
wooden figures with paddles in it. After waiting in the shade for an
hour, surrounded by an immense multitude of people of all ages, the
chief's approach was announced by a general rush from their quarters,
to the other end of the square, where he was walking. They went
towards him in order to pay him the accustomed salutation of shaking
hands, &c., but one of his followers fancying that John Lander kept
his master's hand clasped in his, longer than the occasion warranted,
looked fiercely in his face, and snatched away his hand eagerly and
roughly, without, however, uttering a word. "I could have pulled the
fellow's ears with the greatest goodwill, in the world," says John
Lander, "had not the fear of secret revenge deterred me. As it was, I
smothered my rising choler, and with my broth