All the houses belonging to the king and his family are surrounded by a lofty mud wall, which converts the whole into a kind of citadel.  The interior is subdivided into different courts.  At the first place of entrance I observed a man standing with a musket on his shoulder; and I found the way to the presence very intricate, leading through many passages, with sentinels placed at the different doors.  When we came to the entrance of the court in which the king resides, both my guide and interpreter, according to custom, took off their sandals; and the former pronounced the king’s name aloud, repeating it till he was answered from within.  We found the monarch sitting upon a mat, and two attendants with him.  I repeated what I had before told him concerning the object of my journey, and my reasons for passing through his country.  He seemed, however, but half satisfied.  When I offered to show him the contents of my portmanteau, and everything belonging to me, he was convinced; and it was evident that his suspicion had arisen from a belief that every white man must of necessity be a trader.  When I had delivered my presents, he seemed well pleased, and was particularly delighted with the umbrella, which he repeatedly furled and unfurled, to the great admiration of himself and his two attendants, who could not for some time comprehend the use of this wonderful machine.  After this I was about to take my leave, when the king, desiring me to stop a while, began a long preamble in favour of the whites, extolling their immense wealth and good dispositions.  He next proceeded to an eulogium on my blue coat, of which the yellow buttons seemed particularly to catch his fancy; and he concluded by entreating me to present him with it, assuring me, for my consolation under the loss of it, that he would wear it on all public occasions, and inform every one who saw it of my great liberality towards him.  The request of an African prince, in his own dominions, particularly when made to a stranger, comes little short of a command.  It is only a way of obtaining by gentle means what he can, if he pleases, take by force; and as it was against my interest to offend him by a refusal, I very quietly took off my coat, the only good one in my possession, and laid it at his feet.

In return for my compliance, he presented me with great plenty of provisions, and desired to see me again in the morning.  I accordingly attended, and found in sitting upon his bed.  He told me he was sick, and wished to have a little blood taken from him; but I had no sooner, tied up his arm and displayed the lancet, than his courage failed, and he begged me to postpone the operation till the afternoon, as he felt himself, he said, much better than he had been, and thanked me kindly for my readiness to serve him.  He then observed that his women were very desirous to see me, and requested that I would favour them with a visit.  An attendant was ordered to conduct me; and I had no sooner entered the court appropriated to the ladies, than the whole seraglio surrounded me—­some begging for physic, some for amber, and all of them desirous of trying that great African specific, blood-letting.  They were ten or twelve in number, most of them young and handsome, and wearing on their heads ornaments of gold, and beads of amber.