In the course of the evening, I was presented with some strong beer of the country, extracted from grain, prepared much in the same manner as our malt, and a root yielding a grateful bitter, like our hops.

In the morning I discovered that one of my elephant hunters had absconded with the money I had paid him in advance, and to prevent the other two from following his example, I instantly ordered them to fill their calabashes with water, and, as the sun rose, we entered the wilderness. To secure our safe passage across it, my guides muttered a few sentences, spit upon a stone, and cast it before them on the road. Having performed this ceremony three times, they proceeded with confidence. At noon we came to a large tree hung with innumerable scraps of cloth, and no person presumes to pass it, without adding one to the number. Water was near, but it was muddy; and the remains of a fire, and fragments of provisions, informed us that either travellers or robbers had recently rested here; we therefore proceeded to another watering-place, which we did not reach till night. Here we kindled a large fire, and, for the first time in this expedition, I slept without shelter.

The next day, after five hours travelling, we arrived at Tallika, the first town in Bondou. The inhabitants are chiefly Foolahs. They are Muhamedans, and enjoy considerable affluence, by furnishing provisions to the kafilahs, which pass through the town, and by the sale of ivory, which they obtain by hunting elephants. The teeth are conveyed to the coast on asses, the larger ones in nets, two on each side of the ass, the smaller wrap

ped in skins, and secured by ropes. An officer belonging to the King of Bondou is stationed at Tallika, to give information of the arrival of the kafilahs, which are taxed according to the number of loaded asses that arrive there. I lodged at this officer's house, and engaged him to accompany me to Fattekonda, the residence of the king.

On the following day I left Tallika, and, about noon, arrived at a number of small villages, scattered over an open and fertile plain. At one of these, called Ganado, we passed the night. I was much amused by an itinerant singing man, who told a number of diverting stories, and played some sweet airs by breathing upon a bow-string, and striking it at the same time with a stick.

About a mile from Ganado, we crossed a considerable river that falls into the Gambia. The heat being excessive, we rested two hours under the shade of a tree, where I purchased a quantity of milk, and pounded corn, of some Foolah herdsmen. At sun-set we arrived at Kookarany; and the next day at Dooggi, a small village only three miles distant, where provisions were so plentiful, that, for six small pieces of amber, I purchased

an ox.

The next day we reached a few scattered villages, surrounded by extensive cultivated lands. We passed the night in a miserable hut, having no other bed than a bundle of corn stalks, and no other provisions than those we brought with us.

The wells here were very deep, and dug with great ingenuity: I measured the rope of one of the buckets, and found the well to be fifty-six yards in depth.

On the following day we travelled along a dry

stoney height, and then gradually descended into a deep valley. We pursued our course along it to the eastward, on the dry bed of a river, till we came to a large village where we intended to lodge. Here we found many of the ladies clad in a thin French gauze; but their manners were far less elegant than their apparel. They surrounded me in numbers, asking for beads and amber, tearing my cloak, and cutting the buttons from the clothes of my servant. They were proceeding to other outrages, when I remounted my horse, and rode off, determined to seek another lodging. I afterwards found it in the open air, and under a heavy dew.

The following day I passed through a large village on the banks of the river Falemé, which is here rapid, and its bed rocky. The inhabitants were employed in fishing. The large fish were taken in baskets made of split cane, some of which were twenty feet in length. A stone wall was built across the stream, leaving openings through which the water rushed with great force, and the baskets being placed against these, received the fish that were driven by the current. The small fish, which are about the size of sprats, were taken in handnets, made with cotton, which were managed with great dexterity. These last fish are pounded in a wooden mortar, intire, as they come from the stream, and then exposed to the sun in large lumps like sugar loaves. This preparation, when dry, is sold to the Arabs of the Sahara, who dissolve a piece of the black loaf in water, and mix it with their cuscasoe.

I believe I have given, in the early part of my travels, an account of this composition, so common

throughout central and northern Africa; but it may not be amiss to repeat here that it is made by moistening flour with water, and shaking and stirring it in a large calabash till it adheres together in small granules resembling sago. It is then put into an earthen pot, perforated with small holes, and this pot is placed over another containing some animal food and water. The two vessels are luted together with paste or cow-dung; the under one is put over the fire, and the steam arising from it dresses the cuscasoe, or, as it is here called,

kouskous.

At the village on the Falemé I purchased the blessing of an old Moorish marabut with a few sheets of writing paper, which he would convert into gree-grees for the advantage of the negroes. On quitting this place, we followed the course of the river towards the north, as far as the village of Nayemow, where we were kindly entertained and lodged.

The next morning we crossed the Falemé, the waters of which reached my knees as I sat upon my horse. About noon we entered the town of Fattekonda, and stationed ourselves at the bantang, where we remained till an inhabitant invited us to his house. The Levite of the Scripture, whose concubine, or perhaps, second wife, was so inhumanly murdered, did the same. We had not been more than an hour with our host, when I received a message from Al Mami, [The King] of Bondou, desiring to see me immediately, if I were not too much fatigued with my journey.

I accompanied the messenger, and found Al Mami sitting under a tree, at a little distance from the town.

He desired me to sit near him on his

mat, and asked me whether I wanted to purchase slaves or gold. I answered in the negative, and said that my desire was to visit every part of the habitable earth, and my request to him was permission to pass through his dominions. He seemed surprised; but bade me come to him in the evening, when he said he would give me some pro

visions.

In the evening I presented myself at the residence of the king, which was surrounded by a lofty mud wall that rendered it a kind of citadel: a sentinel, with a musket on his shoulder, guarded the entrance. The interior was divided into dif ferent courts, and the way to the presence led through many passages, with sentinels at the doors of each. When we came to the entrance of the court of audience, my guide took off his sandals, and pronounced the name of the king aloud, repeating it, till he was answered from within. We found the sovereign sitting on a mat, and only two attendants with him.

I repeated my request for leave to pass through the country of Bondou. The idea of travelling for curiosity was quite new to the king. He thought it impossible that any man in his senses would undertake so dangerous a journey, merely to look at the country and its inhabitants; but when I offered to shew him the contents of my baggage, he was convinced, and when I had delivered my presents, he was satisfied. These consisted of some gunpowder, tobacco, amber, and an umbrella. He was particularly delighted with the last, which he opened and shut repeatedly, to the great admiration of himself and his two attendants. When this subsided, his attention was transferred to a new