It was nearly nine o’clock in the morning, when we made our appearance at Sambatikila, which is surrounded by a double wall, ten or eleven feet high, and ten inches thick. We proceeded immediately to the almamy’s, and were ushered into an ante-room, where we waited till some one went to announce us. The chief admitted us immediately to his presence, and we found him reclining under a little shed in his court; he raised himself and extended his hand to me with the customary salutations, _salam alécoum; alécoum salam; enékindé; a kindé_; after having touched me, he rubbed his hand upon his face and chest, to communicate the salutary effect; for he is very religious, and has much faith in the sanctity of the Arabs. He was extremely polite, and told me that he was happy to receive a man whose country was so near Mecca. I told him that I meant to go thither; and he put many questions to Arafanba, who was eager to tell him all he had heard about me at Kankan. This old chief was dressed in the Arabian fashion; his clothes were exceedingly clean; he wore a turban of a red and white striped stuff manufactured in the country. Our visit was very short; he lodged me in one of his son’s houses, together with the two saracolets and the Foulah; the son appeared to me very poor, but he gave us a neat habitation, and took great care that we should have warm water wherewith to perform our ablutions before prayer. I expected that the king would provide for our support, but he left us the whole day without food, presuming that my guide would take care of us; the guide sent us a breakfast of boiled yams, and sauce without salt. After this frugal repast, which we ate with considerable appetite, as it was then late in the day, I sent to my guide for the goods of mine which he had brought the night before; to reward him for the attention which he had paid me on the journey, I made him a small present of cloth, a pair of scissors, and some paper, with which he was delighted and thanked me heartily. He had been kind enough to pay all my expenses on the way, and never asked for any compensation. In the course of the day I was visited by many Mandingoes, who live at Sambatikila; one of them gave me some milk, which is not quite so plentiful here as in Wassoulo. It rained all the afternoon; I went, nevertheless, to the mosque to show the inhabitants that I was a zealous Musulman. At nightfall my guide sent us a small supper of rice, with which we contented ourselves, because we could get nothing else. On the 28th of July, the almamy, recollecting, I suppose, that it was his duty to feed the strangers, sent us a dish of rice without salt, with a sauce of _zambala_,[54] and a supper of yams with a similar sauce.