chief in Boollam, and is by far the best informed man that I had seen
here. He is even well conversant in European politics. He is a man of
large property, and has a town of his own, called Madina, inhabited
entirely by Mandingoes.

"For the ground-rent of this town and neighbourhood, he pays a nominal
duty to the king of the Boollams, as his superior, although, in fact,
his power and influence in the country is nearly equal to the king's
own. On the day of my arrival, he sent me, ready cooked, in the
European style, an excellent dinner, of which I, of course, could not
do less than ask him to partake. Although a Mahommedan, he drank wine
freely, in compliment, as he said, to me, although I could perceive
that he enjoyed it exceedingly. He told me, in the course of
conversation (carried on principally through an interpreter) that he
had, at that time, no fewer than 85 wives. His brother, who had died
some time previously, left 75 wives, all of whom he was entitled, by
the custom of his country, to have married; he told me, however, that
he only chose 45 of them, all of whom he wedded in one day. In the
evening a number of these ladies favoured us with their company, some
of whom were very fine women. They also seemed to drink their wine
with great relish.

"Rejoicings commenced at sunset, and continued during the whole night.
I had a guard of honour placed over my residence, to prevent intrusion
during the night; which, however, I found it impossible to prevent
altogether, as during the election and coronation of a king, the laws
'sleep,' nor can any crime, short of murder or an attempt to murder,
be punished during that space of time, which generally extends to 14
or 16 days. The natural consequence of this is, that all the most idle
and worthless of the neighbouring nations, or tribes, flock to a place