Intelligence arrives that King Làkono will be with us about three o’clock in the afternoon; whereupon the blacks, being suitably clothed by us, and hung round with strings of beads, took their leave with the red Dogalè, all except Lombè, who is one of the king’s subjects, and a sheikh in a neighbouring district down the river. The latter is a very sensible, quiet man, with a more intellectual physiognomy than the others; the Turks give themselves all possible trouble to obtain information from him about the gold. He says that Mount Pelenja itself does not contain copper; that Làkono, however, has a good deal of copper in his house, brought from other mountains at a distance; that Làkono’s dress also came from this country, which is called Berri. Moreover, he took the gold bar shewn to him for a different species of copper; and, as he does not know how to distinguish gold, the latter may be found blended with copper in the royal treasury, and the mountains of Berri may be auriferous. The population is clearly very large, but he could not give us the number. He named several districts, part of which bore the names of the neighbouring mountains; and it almost seems to me as if there had been earlier independent tribes, who were first subdued by the great Làkono. He does not appear either to be a good royalist, and was evidently glad when the king’s sons had withdrawn; he then put on a familiar look, which their presence had hindered him from doing previously. There seems to be no doubt that this country is a central point of negro cultivation, although Berri and other succeeding countries, may be superior to the kingdom of Bari. I am curious about the Sultan’s dress. As Berri is said to lie to the east, perhaps it was not made there, but has come, by means of barter, from India. Lombè also went away richly decorated (for the Turks cannot contain themselves now at the idea of gold El Dahab), in order, probably, to meet the Sultan, or, perhaps, to get out of his sight with the treasures he had acquired.