him I was a stranger, and had none to give. He replied, "I gave you
victuals when you were hungry. Have you forgot the man who brought
you milk at Karrankalla? But," added he with a sigh, "THE IRONS
WERE NOT THEN UPON MY LEGS!" I immediately recollected him, and
begged some ground nuts from Karfa to give him, as a return for his
former kindness.

In the beginning of December, Karfa proposed to complete his
purchase of slaves, and for this purpose collected all the debts
which were owing to him in his own country; and on the 19th, being
accompanied by three slatees, he departed for Kancaba, a large town
on the banks of the Niger and a great slave-market. Most of the
slaves who are sold at Kancaba come from Bambarra; for Mansong, to
avoid the expense and danger of keeping all his prisoners at Sego,
commonly sends them in small parties to be sold at the different
trading towns; and as Kancaba is much resorted to by merchants it is
always well supplied with slaves, which are sent thither up the
Niger in canoes. When Karfa departed from Kamalia he proposed to
return in the course of a month, and during his absence I was left
to the care of a good old bushreen, who acted as schoolmaster to the
young people of Kamalia.



CHAPTER XX--NEGRO CUSTOMS



The whole of my route, both in going and returning, having been
confined to a tract of country bounded nearly by the 12th and 15th