apprised of; for, although the town of Jenne was nominally a part of
the king of Bambarra's dominions, it was in fact, he said, a city of
the Moors--the leading part of the inhabitants being bushreens, and
even the governor himself, though appointed by Mansong, of the same
sect. Thus was I in danger of falling a second time into the hands
of men who would consider it not only justifiable, but meritorious,
to destroy me, and this reflection was aggravated by the
circumstance that the danger increased as I advanced in my journey,
for I learned that the places beyond Jenne were under the Moorish
influence in a still greater degree than Jenne itself, and
Timbuctoo, the great object of my search, altogether in possession
of that savage and merciless people, who allow no Christian to live
there. But I had now advanced too far to think of returning to the
westward on such vague and uncertain information, and determined to
proceed; and being accompanied by the guide, I departed from the
village on the morning of the 24th. About eight o'clock we passed a
large town called Kabba, situated in the midst of a beautiful and
highly cultivated country, bearing a greater resemblance to the
centre of England than to what I should have supposed had been the
middle of Africa. The people were everywhere employed in collecting
the fruit of shea trees, from which they prepare the vegetable
butter mentioned in former parts of this work. These trees grow in
great abundance all over this part of Bambarra. They are not
planted by the natives, but are found growing naturally in the
woods; and in clearing woodland for cultivation every tree is cut
down but the shea. The tree itself very much resembles the American
oak, and the fruit--from the kernel of which, being first dried in
the sun, the butter is prepared by boiling the kernel in water--has
somewhat the appearance of a Spanish olive. The kernel is enveloped
in a sweet pulp, under a thin green rind; and the butter produced