them
with a visit. An attendant was ordered to conduct him, and he had no
sooner entered the court appropriated to the ladies, than the whole
seraglio surrounded him, some begging for physic, some for amber, and
all of them trying that great African specific, blood-letting. They
were ten or twelve in number, most of them young and handsome, and
wearing on their heads ornaments of gold and beads of amber. They
rallied him on the whiteness of his skin and the prominency of his
nose. They insisted that both were artificial, the first they said,
was produced when he was an infant, by dipping him in milk, and they
insisted that his nose had been pinched every day, till it had
acquired its present unsightly and unnatural conformation. On his
part, without disputing his own deformity, he paid them many
compliments on African beauty. He praised the glossy jet of their
skins, and the lovely depression of their noses; but they said, that
flattery, or as they emphatically termed it, _honey-mouth_, was not
esteemed in Bondou. The ladies, however, were evidently not
displeased, for they presented him with a jar of honey and some fish.

Mr. Park was desired to attend the king again, a little before
sunset, on which occasion he presented to his majesty some beads and
writing paper, as a small offering, in return for which the king gave
him five drachms of gold. He seconded the act by one still greater,
he suffered the baggage to pass without examination, and Mr. Park was
allowed to depart when he pleased.

Accordingly, on the morning of the 23d, Mr. Park left Fatteconda, and
in a few hours arrived at a small village, the boundary between
Bondou and Kajaaga. Hearing it was dangerous for travellers, Mr. Park
resolved to proceed by night, until they should reach a more
hospitable part of the country, and directed their course through the
woods. On this occasion, Mr. Park says, "the stillness of the air,
the howling of the wild beasts, and the deep solitude of the forest,
made the scene solemn and impressive. Not a word was uttered by any
of us, but in a whisper; all were attentive, and every one anxious to
show his sagacity, by pointing out to me the wolves and hyenas, as
they glided, like shadows, from one thicket to another." The
following afternoon they arrived at Joag, in the kingdom of Kajaaga,
where they took up their abode at the house of the chief man, here
called the _dooty_. He was a rigid Mohammedan, but distinguished for
h