Niger

villagers the notion that he had nothing to fear from
the Moors, and, in fact, was travelling into their
country. The village children followed him for a
mile or so, crying rude things. Mungo would
willingly have wrung their necks. Instead, he smiled
upon them politely. Thereat they abandoned him.
Relieved of their presence, he sought shelter under
a large tree, spread himself a bed of twigs, and fell
blissfully and completely into a profound sleep. But
even in this he was not allowed to remain for long.
Three Foulahs passed by about two o’clock and,
observing Mungo asleep, were suitably shocked!
They took him for a Moor and imagined he had
overslept the midday prayer. They shook him
awake. Mungo stared at them, saddled his horse in
dead silence while they looked on, and rode off to
the south-east.
The country took to itself a greener and more
fertile aspect. He was passing from the regions of
the scrubland into the true African forest again.
The grass rose lush and gigantic. Behind the great
tree-boles the shadows lay fervid and blue. Near
sunset Mungo’s horse came upon a track through
the forest, and followed it until midnight, when the
track ceased in a pool of rain-water. Here IVIungo,
dismounting and feeding his horse, determined to
camp. It was a silent and solitary place. He made
his bed under the stars and lay down to resume the
sleep from which the three Foulahs had evicted him.
But, in the northern sands, he had forgotten the
accompaniments of forest life in the night. Droves
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