Niger

for his landlord, a negro who had cheerfully em¬
braced the full tenets of the Mohammedan religion
and at the same time kept faithfully to a full observ¬
ance of the pagan rites, to act as guide next day.
In the morning, however, this much-begodded
black demanded from Mungo such an exorbitant
sum for the lodging of the latter and his companions
that the Scot point-blank refused payment. There
were certain limits in money-matters—at least so
far as private robbers, apart from official ones, were
concerned.
Surprisingly, Mungo’s attendants failed their
master very completely, threatening, both Demba
and Johnson, to abandon him to his fate unless he
settled matters with the landlord. This is a
mysterious moment in Mungo’s career, for fear of
hostilities in the future could have had no just
pressure upon his black companions at the moment.
Possibly they were leagued with the landlord.
Mungo, assessing things again with cool wisdom,
saw there was no help for it. He overpaid the
landlord by making him a present of a blanket—it
seems to have been Mungo’s only blanket—and
took the road for Kemmoo, Kaarta’s capital.
But outside his native town of Feesurah the land¬
lord insisted on halting and going through a
bewildering amount of ceremonies, Mohammedan
and pagan, to ensure their safety on the road. He
whistled and prayed extensively, the while Mungo
regarded him in some doubt, suspecting that he was
summoning fellow-bandits to the robbery of the
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