Dear Diary,

Today I finally returned from the 1200 mile journey all the way from Ghana. I went through the Sahara and over the Atlas Mountains to get back to my home in North Africa home. I went to Ghana because I need to trade salt for gold. In total my village traded 12 pounds of salt for 12 pounds of gold. It was a fair trade because all the people in Africa need salt. Putting salt in our foods keeps us from sweating and that way we don’t get dehydrated while walking through the heat. It also adds flavor to food. The gold we received will be traded with people from Europe and the Middle East. The gold will be used for jewelry and masks. The trade system is very interesting.

Once we reached the banks of the Niger River we leave our goods just lying there on the sand and we leaved. As we camped out not too far away from the Niger, soldiers from Ghana come and protected our trade offer. While we camped I could hear the sound of a drum beats. That is the signal for other people to trade with us. When the people that want to trade with us arrive, they give us 12 pounds of gold and leave. We pick up are newly traded gold and right as we were about to leave the soldiers stopped us. They said the king wanted tax in return for protecting our goods. We paid him 12 pounds of salt and made our way back home. I thought it was strange that we had to pay him a lot of gold, but I realized that his soldiers protected our trade goods and ensured a fair trade. I’m back home no and I will get a good nights sleep and wake up felling refreshed and ready to work in the salt mines.