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Then he was dissatisfied with the table. Saying he was weary, he asked to be allowed to speak seated on the sofa, beside the old man with the flushed face and the white beard. Benedetto was dressed in black, and was paler and thinner than at Jenne. His hair had receded from his forehead, which had acquired something of the solemn aspect of the brow of Don Giuseppe Flores.
The object of the visit was, of course, still that for which Donna Rosetta Albacina had laboured for three days, her ostensible reason for so doing being the interest she took in the ideas and the person of the Saint of Jenne; her real reason being the pleasure she took in managing an intrigue, without scruples of conscience.
At the house of a cardinal, her cousin, she had become acquainted with one of the priests now staying at Jenne, This man, having met her, had given her his own opinion of the Saint, announcing the downfall of his reputation.
After two days voyage, they arrived at Jenne, to the chief of which place Park gave a present. They sailed on in perfect safety till they came to the lake Dibbe, where three armed canoes attacked them, but were beaten off. They were again attacked at Kabra or Rakbara, the port of Tombuctoo, and also at Gouramo. In these encounters several of the natives were slain.
The tract of land which the two streams encircle is called Jinbala, and is inhabited by Negroes; and the whole distance, by land, from Jenne to Tombuctoo, is twelve days journey. From Kabra, at the distance of eleven days' journey, down the stream, the river passes to the southward of Houssa, which is two days journey distant from the river.
This increased their number to nine. Descending the stream, they passed the Silla and Jenne without molestation; but lower down, in the neighbourhood of Timbuctoo, they were followed by armed canoes, which they beat off, killing several of the natives.
Neither is it necessary to ask what His will is concerning me. Why not go down, and sleep?" Benedetto rose, his head heavy with leaden weariness. The sky was hidden by thick clouds as far as the hills of Jenne, where the valley of the upper Anio turns. Benedetto could hardly distinguish the black shadow of the Francolano opposite, or the livid, rocky slope at his feet.
On the 6th April, they arrived at Jenne, where they were well received by the governor, who had recently been appointed to his office by the king of Badagry. The inhabitants are industrious and temperate, living chiefly on vegetable food.
Here arose in early times the powerful empire of Songhay, which disintegrated and fell into tribal confusion about the middle of the seventeenth century. For a long time the seat of its power was the city of Jenne; in later days it was Timbuctoo. This is not the place to enlarge upon this extraordinary piece of history.
The principal articles, which were cloth of Houssa or Jenne, antimony, beads, and indigo, were each arranged in stalls, shaded by mats from the heat of the sun. There was a separate market for salt, the main staple of their trade. The whole presented a scene of commercial order and activity totally unlooked for in the interior of Africa.
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