"Avoid That Man," Said A Complaisant And Comfortable Looking Old Mahommedan, Pointing To One Of His Companions, As He Quitted

The hut, after having just blessed him in the name of Allah, "for believe me, he will take every opportunity

Of deceiving you, and if you go so far as to trust him with any of your property, he will cheat you of every kowrie."

The venerable speaker had a number of gilt buttons, nearly new, in his possession, which they had given him to sell, for they were frequently obliged to make such shifts for a meal, and when his invective was finished, he arose to take his leave, but the self-righteous priest had neglected, in the hurry of discourse, to secure a few buttons which he had purloined, for as he stood up they dropped from the folds of his garment on the floor. The man's confusion was immediately apparent, but they did not wish to punish him further by increasing his shame, and they suffered him to go about his business, in the belief that the circumstance had wholly escaped their observation. Gilt buttons fetch a high price at Kiama, from two to three hundred kowries each, and as they had a great number of them, it was likely that from henceforth they would be of infinite service to them. Women use buttons to ornament their fingers, necks, and wrists, and they imagine that the brightest of them are made of gold.

A messenger arrived this day at the king's house with the information, that Doncasson, the ex-king of Houssa, had recently taken no less than twelve towns in that empire from the Fellatas, in which he had been greatly assisted by the sheik of Bornou.

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