dmiration and thankfulness.

To this moment I grew more and more uneasy every day, in so much that
one saturday, (which is the day on which we keep our sabbath) I laboured
under anxieties and fears that cannot be expressed; and, what is more
extraordinary, I could not give a reason for it.--I rose, as our custom
is, about three o'clock, (as we are oblig'd to be at our place of
worship an hour before the sun rise) we say nothing in our worship, but
continue on our knees with our hands held up, observing a strict silence
'till the sun is at a certain height, which I suppose to be about 10 or
11 o'clock in England: when, at a certain sign made by the priest, we
get up (our duty being over) and disperse to our different houses.--Our
place of meeting is under a large palm tree; we divide ourselves into
many congregations; as it is impossible for the same tree to cover the
inhabitants of the whole City, though they are extremely large, high and
majestic; the beauty and usefulness of them are not to be described;
they supply the inhabitants of the country with meat, drink and
clothes;[A] the body of the palm tree is very large; at a certain season
of the year they tap it, and bring vessels to receive the wine, of which
they draw great quantities, the quality of which is very delicious: the
leaves of this tree are of a silky nature; they are large and soft; when
they are dried and pulled to pieces it has much the same appearance as
the English flax, and the inhabitants of Bournou manufacture it for
cloathing &c. This tree likewise produces a plant or substance which has
the appearance of a cabbage, and very like it, in taste almost the same:
it grows between the branches. Also the palm tree produces a nut,
something like a cocoa, which contains a kernel, in which is a large
quantity of milk, very pleasant to the taste: the shell is of a hard
substance, and of a very beautiful appearance, and serves for basons,
bowls, &c.

[Footnote A: It is a generally received opinion, in _England_, that the
natives of _Africa_ go entirely unclothed; but this supposition is very
unjust: they have a kind of dress so as to appear decent, though it is
very slight and thin.]

I hope this digression will be forgiven.--I was going to observe that
after the duty of our Sabbath was over (on the day in which I was more
distressed and afflicted than ever) we were all on our way home as
usual, when a remarkable black cloud arose and covered the sun; th