26th.—At six in the morning left the hut of this hospitable chief; and, after a ride of six hours, came to Markee, a large, but rather thinly inhabited village. The chief, a kind-hearted old man, upwards, I should suppose, of ninety years of age, and very feeble, was delighted to see me, and testified the pleasure he felt by shaking hands with me repeatedly, and by doing me many acts of kindness. He presented me with fowls, rice, corn, and _tuah_. After a little conversation, he took me into an inner apartment, and bidding me to sit, took from a calabash, which was suspended to a piece of wood attached to the roof, a small box made of skin, round which was wound, with the greatest care, upwards of five hundred yards of thread, which occupied him twenty minutes in taking off. In this box he showed me four bits of tin, about the size of swan and common shot, which he told me were silver. The old chief gave me to understand, with much seriousness and earnestness of manner, that they had been given by an Arab fifteen years before, who told him they were possessed of life. The larger pieces, he continued, were males, and the smaller females; and were to produce young at the end of every twelve years, before which time they were by no means to be looked at. He had enveloped them in a quantity of cotton-wool, in order to impart warmth to them; and the thread was tied round the box that the offspring might have no opportunity of escaping! “But,” said the old man, with a disappointed air, “though I kept them with the greatest care for twelve years, suffering no one to approach them, I found, to my sorrow, at the expiration of that time, they had made no increase; and I begin to fear they never will:” in saying which the old man was so grievously affected that he burst into tears. It was with considerable difficulty I could refrain from laughing aloud in his face. I succeeded, however, in subduing the great inclination I had to be merry; and told him, with all the solemnity the occasion deserved, that the Arab was a rogue, and had deceived him; that the articles were bits of tin, and not of silver; that they were without life, and therefore could not produce young. I consoled the old gentleman on the hoax that had been played off upon him, and sympathized with him in his sorrow. He soon afterwards became more composed, although at times he could not help sobbing audibly. After answering the numerous questions he put to me about my country, &c. I complained of fatigue, and retired to rest. Ill with dysentery all day.