May 16th.

We departed from Baniserile, and travelled through thick woods until noon, when we saw at a distance the town of Julifunda, but did not approach it; as we proposed to rest for the night at a large town called Kirwani, which we reached about four o'clock in the afternoon.

This town stands in a valley, and the country for more than a mile round it is cleared of wood and well cultivated. The inhabitants appear to be very active and industrious, and seem to have carried the system of agriculture to some degree of perfection; for they collect the dung of their cattle into large heaps during the dry season, for the purpose of manuring their land with it at the proper time. I saw nothing like this in any other part of Africa. Near the town are several smelting furnaces, from which the natives obtain very good iron. They afterwards hammer the metal into small bars, about a foot in length and two inches in breadth, one of which bars is sufficient to make two Mandingo corn hoes. On the morning after our arrival, we were visited by a Slatee of this place, who informed Karfa, that among some slaves he had lately purchased, was a native of Foota Jalla; and as that country was at no great distance, he could not safely employ him in the labours of the field, lest he should effect his escape. The Slatee was therefore desirous of exchanging this slave for one of Karfa's, and offered some cloth and shea-butter, to induce Karfa to comply with the proposal, which was accepted. The Slatee thereupon sent a boy to order the slave in question to bring him a few ground nuts. The poor creature soon afterwards entered the court in which we were sitting, having no suspicion of what was negociating, until the master caused the gate to be shut, and told him to sit down. The slave now saw his danger, and perceiving the gate to be shut upon him, threw down the nuts, and jumped over the fence. He was immediately pursued and overtaken by the Slatees, who brought him back, and secured him in irons, after which one of Karfa's slaves was released and delivered in exchange. The unfortunate captive was at first very much dejected, but in the course of a few days his melancholy gradually subsided; and he became at length as cheerful as any of his companions.

Departing from Kirwani on the morning of the 20th, we entered the Tenda Wilderness of two day's journey. The woods were very thick, and the country shelved towards the south-west. About ten o'clock we met a coffle of twenty-six people, and seven loaded asses, returning from the Gambia. Most of the men were armed with muskets, and had broad belts of scarlet cloth over their shoulders, and European hats upon their heads. They informed us that there was very little demand for slaves on the Coast, as no vessel had arrived for some months past. On hearing this, the Serawoollies, who had travelled with us from the Faleme river, separated themselves and their slaves from the coffle. They had not, they said, the means of maintaining their slaves in Gambia until a vessel should arrive, and were unwilling to sell them to disadvantage; they therefore departed to the northward for Kajaaga. We continued our route through the Wilderness, and travelled all day through a rugged country, covered with extensive thickets of bamboo. At sunset, to our great joy, we arrived at a pool of water near a large tabba tree, whence the place is called Tabba-gee, and here we rested a few hours. The water at this season of the year is by no means plentiful in these woods; and as the days were insufferably hot, Karfa proposed to travel in the night. Accordingly, about eleven o'clock, the slaves were taken out of their irons, and the people of the coffle received orders to keep close together, as well to prevent the slaves from attempting to escape, as on account of the wild beasts. We travelled with great alacrity until daybreak, when it was discovered that a free woman had parted from the coffle in the night; her name was called until the woods resounded, but no answer being given, we conjectured that she had either mistaken the road, or that a lion had seized her unperceived. At length it was agreed that four people should go back a few miles to a small rivulet, where some of the coffle had stopt to drink, as we passed it in the night, and that the coffle should wait for their return. The sun was about an hour high before the people came back with the woman, whom they found lying fast asleep by the stream. We now resumed our journey, and about eleven o'clock reached a walled town called Tambacunda, where we were well received. Here we remained four days, on account of a _palaver_ which was held on the following occasion. Modi Lemina, one of the Slatees belonging to the coffle, had formerly married a woman of this town, who had borne him two children; he afterwards went to Manding, and remained there eight years, without sending any account of himself, during all that time, to his deserted wife; who, seeing no prospect of his return, at the end of three years had married another man, to whom she had likewise borne two children. Lemina now claimed his wife, but the second husband refused to deliver her up; insisting that by the laws of Africa, when a man has been three years absent from his wife, without giving her notice of his being alive, the woman is at liberty to marry again. After all the circumstances had been fully investigated in an assembly of the chief men, it was determined that the wife should make her choice, and be at liberty either to return to the first husband, or continue with the second, as she alone should think proper.

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