The rest of the day passed off without any further rejoicing. At supper, which was later than usual, the women assembled to take their repast together, and they made themselves very merry; but their games are far from being so lively as those of the idolatrous negroes of Baléya and Amana. They leaped and danced about the hut and the yard, holding a piece of meat in their hand, and biting at it in a disgusting manner. Music and dancing are forbidden among the Musulmans, and consequently their amusements are far from equalling in frolic and gaiety those which prevail among the pagans. After supper I was visited by an old marabout, who had come from Ségo: he looked at me with an expression of great curiosity, and could not help laughing at the length of my nose, assuring me that he had never seen any thing like it; he lavished benedictions upon me, as well as Lamfia, whose behaviour to me he praised highly. Lamfia greatly commended my religious zeal. This marabout confirmed the news which I had heard of a war between Ségo and Jenné, and he advised me to go by the way of Sambatikila. My host cut off two or three ells of the cloth of native manufacture, as a present for the marabout, who took care to give him a good dose of flattery. As soon as he had received the present, he went off, loading Lamfia with fresh benedictions, and praising his generosity. On the 6th of July, being alone in my hut, I took the opportunity to examine my merchandise, which, unfortunately, was not under lock and key. I discovered, that some one had been meddling with my things, for the packets of glass-beads were not tied up in the manner in which I had left them; I immediately looked over carefully all my baggage, and, to my mortification, I found that I had been robbed, and that my most beautiful beads had disappeared. Fortunately I had on the eve of the festival hid my amber, my coral, and a little silver, in a small bag, containing cream of tartar and purgative salts. The thief had begun to open the bag of salts, but when he saw what it contained, he had thrown it aside, and fallen upon the glass beads: a razor, which I had lent on the preceding day to Lamfia, to cut his mustaches, and which he had often begged me to give to him, had also disappeared. This man believed me to be richer than I was. He thought that I possessed silver, gold, and a good stock of amber and coral; he frequently asked me to sell him some, but I always took care to tell him I had none. On the day of the festival, I went out to the market, and also called upon a Mandingo, who wished to accompany me to Jenné and thence to travel to Mecca. He was about thirty-five or forty years old, and, notwithstanding his zeal for religion, he could not prevail on himself to disobey his father, who was very averse to his undertaking such a journey. Disobedience in such a case might well have been excusable, since it arose from a desire to please God.