dominions, and he hoped that he would consider the obligation he owed
to him, and make him a suitable return by a handsome present. This
proposition was rather unexpected by Mr. Park, who began to fear that
he had not much improved his condition by crossing the water, but as
it would have been folly to complain, he gave the prince seven bars
of amber and some tobacco, with which he seemed well satisfied.

In the evening of December the 29th, they arrived at Demba Sego's
hut, and the next morning Mr. Park was introduced by the prince to
his father, Tigitty Sego, brother to the king of Kasson, chief of
Tesee. The old man viewed his visitor with great earnestness, having
never beheld but one white man before, whom Mr. Park discovered to be
Major Houghton. He appeared to disbelieve what Mr. Park asserted, in
answer to his inquiries concerning the motives that induced him to
explore the country, and told him that he must go to Kooniakary to
pay his respects to the king, but desired to see him again before he
left Tesee.

Tesee is a large unwalled town, fortified only by a sort of citadel,
in which Tiggity Sego and his family reside. The present inhabitants,
though possessing abundance of cattle and corn, eat without scruple
rats, moles, squirrels, snakes, locusts, &c. The attendants of Mr.
Park were one evening invited to a feast, where making a hearty meal
of what they thought to be fish and kouskous, one of them found a
piece of hard skin in the dish, which he brought away with him, to
show Mr. Park what sort of fish they had been eating. On examining
the skin, it was discovered they had been feasting on a large snake.
Another custom, which is rigidly adhered to, is, that no woman is
allowed to eat an egg, and nothing will more affront a woman of Tesee
than to offer her an egg. The men, however, eat eggs without scruple.