About noon we saw at a distance the capital of Kaarta, situated in the
middle of an open plain, the country for two miles round being cleared of
wood, by the great consumption of that article for building and fuel, and
we entered the town about two o'clock in the afternoon.

We proceeded without stopping to the court before the king's residence
but I was so completely surrounded by the gazing multitude, that I did
not attempt to dismount, but sent in the landlord and Madi Konko's son,
to acquaint the king of my arrival. In a little time they returned
accompanied by a messenger from the king, signifying that he would see me
in the evening; and, in the meantime, the messenger had orders to procure
me a lodging, and see that the crowd did not molest me. He conducted me
into a court, at the door of which he stationed a man, with a stick in
his hand, to keep off the mob, and then showed me a large hut, in which I
was to lodge. I had scarcely seated myself in this spacious apartment,
when the mob entered; it was found impossible to keep them out, and I was
surrounded by as many as the hut could contain. When the first party,
however, had seen me; and asked a few questions, they retired to make
room for another company; and in this manner the hut was filled and
emptied thirteen different times.

A little before sunset, the king sent to inform me that he was at
leisure, and wished to see me. I followed the messenger through a number
of courts surrounded with high walls, where I observed plenty of dry
grass bundled up like hay, to fodder the horses in case the town should
be invested. On entering the court in which the king was sitting, I was
astonished at the number of his attendants, and at the good order that
seemed to prevail among them; they were all seated, the fighting men on
the king's right hand, and the women and children on the left, leaving a
space between them for my passage. The king, whose name was Daisy