gaily dressed, with plumes on their heads, were jumping in cadence, and accompanied the music by striking two pieces of iron together; they were dressed almost like the little French tumblers. The leaders of the band of musicians wore cloaks adorned with Guinea fowl’s feathers, and they had ostrich plumes on their heads; many of them were shaking, in cadence, a round calabash, with a handle six inches long, and covered with net-work, containing some large beans, which, in spite of the rattle they made, accompanied the music very well. The musicians walked in a file, playing and moving in time; the women and children followed, dancing and clapping their hands. I was greatly amused with watching them, and their dance was free from all indecency. They passed part of the night in this diversion; and the two great drums produced a good effect. Since I had left the coast I had met with nothing that pleased me so much as this scene; I was never tired of their music, which seemed to me harmonious, although it had in it something wild: it is worthy of the traveller’s attention. Our host gave us a supper of boiled foigné, which was accompanied with herbs, but rather unpalatable for want of salt and butter; we ate our portion however with a very good appetite, for we had taken nothing that day but a bit of yam and some pistachio-nuts. The saracolets bought milk, and cooked their rice, which they invited me to share with them. Four days’ journey to the east of Diécoura is Morila, a village surrounded with walls, where a market is held; and to the E.N.E. of Morila is the town of Kankary, situated on a river, which runs to the south and falls into the Dhioliba. This town belongs to the Bambaras of Ségo, and has a considerable market. I obtained the above information from the natives of the country. My goods had gone forward with my guide, who went to Kimba to one of his acquaintance, but I was so fatigued that I preferred sleeping in the village to going any farther; we were to rejoin him the next day: the absence of my baggage preventing me from paying my host, one of the saracolets was so obliging as to discharge the debt with a few trinkets of glass, and he would never afterwards allow me to reimburse him.