The prince received him with marked attention, and waited on him at his hut, accompanied by all his court; he told him he was the protector of travellers, and desired him to inform his countrymen, that he wished them often to visit him. The next day, the 2d, he proceeded on his journey, when the king gave him an ox, and Rubault returned the compliment by a piece of Guinea. On that day and the third, he passed through the villages of Caffime, Cambalot, and Caldenne, at which he stopped to procure a supply of provisions. He observed that the inhabitants of this village were all dyers, and that they made a quantity of indigo; their lands were highly cultivated, and were covered in many parts with gum-trees, as well as with the species which produces incense, aloes, and mastic. The Negroes are but little acquainted with the value of these productions; but Rubault considers them if properly collected, as an inexhaustible source of riches. The incense is a kind of gum. These two substances, though of a different nature, are obtained at the same period, by different processes, from the trees which produce them: the latter also are very much alike. That which gives the incense is very full of branches, which are slender, flexible, and covered with prickles; they have a thin adherent bark, of a grey colour; their leaves are long and narrow, always green, and coupled, though each shoot is terminated by a single leaf. The pedicle is red and tolerably strong. On rubbing them between the hands, they give out an unctuous liquid of a strong and aromatic smell, and rather an acrid taste. A great quantity of these shrubs are found near the gum-trees in the desert, as well as on most spots in this part of Africa. The greatest consumption of incense takes place in our churches; it is also used in medicine. The substance called aloes is also sought for in the isles of the Red Sea, though it may be more readily obtained on the coasts, and in the interior of Western Africa. The Indians make much use of this resin as a powerful cathartic. Mastic is also obtained in great quantities, and the apothecaries employ the pulverised wood of the trees which produce it, in their compositions. The people of the state of Bambouk are rigid Mahometans, and their government is hereditary and absolute.