a large town on the banks of the Niger, or at least very near to that river, which Mr Park says strongly excited his curiosity. It is completely surrounded by two very deep trenches, at about two hundred yards distant from the walls. On the top of the trenches are a number of square towers; and the whole has the appearance of a regular fortification. Inquiring into the origin of this extraordinary entrenchment, our author learned from two of the townspeople the following particulars; which, if true, furnish a mournful picture of the enormities of African wars:

About fifteen years before our traveller visited Sai, when the King of Bambarra defeated Maniana, the Doody of Sai had two sons slain in battle, fighting in the king's cause. He had a third son living; and when the king demanded a further reinforcement of men, and this youth among the rest, the Doody refused to send him. This conduct so enraged the king, that when he returned from Maniana, about the beginning of the rainy season, and found the Doody protected by the inhabitants, he sat down before Sai with his army, and surrounded the town with the trenches which had attracted our author's notice. After a siege of two months, the townspeople became involved in all the horrors of famine; and whilst the king's army were feasting in their trenches, they saw with pleasure the miserable inhabitants of Sai devour the leaves and bark of the Bentang tree that stood in the middle of the town. Finding, however, that the besieged would sooner perish than surrender, the king had recourse to treachery. He promised, that if they would open the gates, no person should be put to death, nor suffer any injury, but the Doody alone. The poor old man determined to sacrifice himself, for the sake of his fellow-citizens, and immediately walked over to the king's army, where he was put to death. His son, in attempting to escape, was caught and massacred in the trenches; and the rest of the townspeople were carried away captives, and sold as slaves to the different Negro traders.