The Burdens Having
Been Equally Divided Among The Party, And Every Thing Ready, They Set Out
From Pisania, Accompanied For A Mile Or Two By Most Of The Principal
Inhabitants Of The Place, Who Were Anxious To Confer This Honour Upon The
Travellers.
They set out in regular order of march:
Mr. Scott and one of
Isaaco's attendants in front, Lieutenant Martyn in the centre, and Mr.
Anderson and Park bringing up the rear. But their progress was slow, for
some of the asses were overloaded, and others were restive and threw off
their burdens, so that they had soon to purchase an additional number. On
the 10th May they arrived at Fatteconda, where the son of Park's friend,
the former king of Wooli, met him, from whom he learnt that his journey
was looked upon with great jealousy by some of the influential
inhabitants residing about Madina. At noon, they reached the capital of
Wooli. The asses were unloaded under a tree, without the gates of the
town. It was five o'clock before Park obtained an audience of the king,
to whom he carried as presents, a pair of silver-mounted pistols, ten
dollars, some amber and coral; but his Majesty being covetous, and
considering it beneath his dignity to receive so little, Park was obliged
to add fifteen dollars more, and double the quantity of coral and amber.
The king also begged a blanket to shield his royal person from the rains,
which was sent to him. This was only a sample of the numerous extortions
to which they were exposed; and as the natives annoyed them much,
conceiving that they carried merchandise of great value, the utmost
vigilance was necessary to guard against their sly pilferings, as well as
the more violent attempts of the numerous bands of robbers who infested
the neighbourhood. They reached Kanipe, a straggling village, on the 13th
of May. Here the women had fallen upon an ingenious plan to extort amber
and beads. After many hours labour, they had drawn up all the water from
the wells and carried it away. They were fairly baffled, however, by the
travellers; for in the evening, one of the soldiers having, as if by
accident, dropped his canteen into the well, he was lowered down by a
rope to pick it up; and standing at the bottom of the well, filled all
the camp-kettles of the party, so that the women had to depart in grief
and mortification.
After having passed through Kussai, the country was wooded for five
miles, when the travellers reached a level plain almost destitute of
shade, along which some hundreds of antelopes, of a dark colour, and
nearly as large as bullocks, were bounding. At half-past ten they again
came to the banks of the Gambia, and halted, during the heat of the day,
under a large spreading tree. The river was here one hundred yards
across, its waters swarming with crocodiles; and, contrary to Park's
expectations, he found that it had a regular tide, rising four inches by
the shore.
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