Niger

saddle, opened it, and examined its contents. The
examination must have confirmed his previous
guess : this white man was a poor one. Disgusted,
Flancharee directed Mungo to depart in the morning.
The morning came in rain. Mungo rode out
through it in the direction of a village called
Dingyee. For about a mile a negro traveller
accompanied him on an ass. At the end of the mile
the ass decided against the journey and kicked its
rider off. The rider picked himself up and obedi¬
ently returned to Wawra. The ass passes un¬
saga5 ed from the story.
In Dingyee Mungo was hospitably entertained by
an old Foulah who had developed a remarkable
theory. White men knew a lot. This knowledge
they lodged in their heads. White men had hair.
Therefore, were one lucky enough to secure suffi¬
cient hair from the head of a white man to construct
a reasonably large charm, one would automatically
come into a great deal of white wisdom.
Mungo remarked, with sardonic politeness, that
he had never before heard of so simple a mode of
education. But he had no objection to enlightening
the darkness of the old Foulah. ‘ And my landlord’s
thirst for learning was such that, with cutting and
pulling, he cropped one side of my head pretty
closely ; and would have done the same with the
other, had I not signified my disapprobation by
putting on my hat, and assuring him that I wished
to reserve some of this precious merchandise for a
future occasion.5
167