The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-25

and the next day 1 set out for Sama- dou's town of Here Mekonah. Here I was met by Samadous great fight ing chief, Keh- Moko-Billalli He had received word from Samadou to bring me up to his country. My arrival at Here Mekonah was most fortunate. I was able to release about one hundred and fifty of the prisoners whom the Sofas had taken. and when I handed them over to the British garrison at Falabah, I got receipt for them, which I now possess, as it is rather curiosity Keh- -Moko- -Billali after wards had another fight, in which he took a number of prisoners, and when I entreated for them to be released, he would only grant my request as far as about forty were concerned. In fact, I could not get to know properly from him how many he had taken, as he knew would have begged for the whole of them to be let off. What became of the other poor people I was afraid to conjecture. Those who were not of use to the chief, that Is to say, not young, and able to be trained as troops for marauding purposes, would be sent away, and in all probability sold into slavery or killed. In my journeys up to Kab-en- -Dougou came so frequently upon heaps of dead bodies that I could only imagine that these inva- sions by Samorys men had been talk ing place for a long time, and were gradually depopulating the countries.
 Keh- Moko- -Billalli was a man of good presence, but Samory himself was, I might say, quite awe-inspiring He could not have been far from sev- en feet in height, and in features far removed in every way from the ordln ary negro. He was a, Mohammedan of a very pronounced type, and had made his pilgrimage to Mecca. I stayed in Samory's town for days, and then be- came i'll with fever. He kindly--but his 1 word, of course, was a command-told me that I had better leave. I heard that he could speak English, but he certainly did not speak it to me, and all our conversation was through an interpreter. He said that if I died in l his country he would be accused of | having poisoned me, as one or two l other English officials who had gone l up to see him had died, and their l deaths were attributed to foul play 1 on his part. He mentioned the case of 1 Captain Testing to me, who died of l fever on his way back from visiting him. While in Kah-en-Dougou, sam ory's army, of about 10000 men, infan- 1 try and cavalry, paraded before him | for my edification. Samory himself was by my side, and took great pride | in the feats which the horsemen per- l formed as they passed us I was as- tonished at the intelligence displayed l by Samory and particularly his l knowledge of history. He could tell me l of British wars that I myself had al- l most forgotten He said he wanted to come under the Queen of England, as l all Mohammedans received good treat l nlent under British rule, and their re- I ligion was in no way interfered with.
 He begged to try and get his country put under the protection of England | There can be no question that Sanory | was a despot of the most pronounced 1 kind. As a friend he would be invalu- ! able, but as an enemy most implacable His sway was one of blood. His war
 riors and people did not work, they
 simply lived on the plunder of thei1 perpetual raids. While I was entering l one of his towns I saw number o1
 poor negroes all tied up and on theil
 knees. They were all arranged in a line on one side of the town. I asked the reason of this cruelty, and was tolt
 by way of a secret that they were tt
 
 to jerk back their heads and cut theil
 throats. I went up to intercede fol
 their lives, but before I could reacf
 the town the execution had been car
 ried out.-London Standard.