- As there was no water to be procured on the road, we
travelled with great expedition until we reached Tambacunda; and
departing from thence early the next morning, the 10th, we reached
in the evening Kooniakary, a town of nearly the same magnitude as
Kolor.
About noon on the 11th we arrived at Koojar, the frontier
town of Woolli, towards Bondou, from which it is separated by an
intervening wilderness of two days' journey.
The guide appointed by the king of Woolli being now to return, I
presented him with some amber for his trouble; and having been
informed that it was not possible at all times to procure water in
the wilderness, I made inquiry for men who would serve both as
guides and water-bearers during my journey across it. Three
negroes, elephant-hunters, offered their services for these
purposes, which I accepted, and paid them three bars each in
advance; and the day being far spent, I determined to pass the night
in my present quarters.
The inhabitants of Koojar, though not wholly unaccustomed to the
sight of Europeans (most of them having occasionally visited the
countries on the Gambia), beheld me with a mixture of curiosity and
reverence, and in the evening invited me to see a neobering, or
wrestling-match, at the bentang. This is an exhibition very common
in all the Mandingo countries. The spectators arranged themselves
in a circle, leaving the intermediate space for the wrestlers, who
were strong active young men, full of emulation, and accustomed, I
suppose, from their infancy to this sort of exertion.
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