The River Is Deep And Muddy; The Banks Are Covered With
Impenetrable Thickets Of Mangrove; And The Whole Of The Adjacent Country
Appears To Be Flat And Swampy.
The Gambia abounds with fish, some species of which are excellent food;
but none of them that I recollect are known in Europe.
At the entrance
from the sea, sharks are found in great abundance; and higher up,
alligators and the hippopotamus (or river-horse) are very numerous. The
latter might with more propriety be called the river-elephant, being of
an enormous and unwieldy bulk, and its teeth furnish good ivory. This
animal is amphibious, with short and thick legs, and cloven hoofs: it
feeds on grass, and such shrubs as the banks of the river afford, boughs
of trees, seldom venturing far from the water, in which it seeks refuge
on hearing the approach of man. I have seen many, and always found them
of a timid and inoffensive disposition.
In six days after leaving Vintain, we reached Jonkakonda, a place of
considerable trade, where our vessel was to take in part of her lading.
The next morning, the several European traders came from their different
factories to receive their letters and learn the nature and amount of the
cargo; and the captain dispatched a messenger to Dr. Laidley to inform him
of my arrival. He came to Jonkakonda the morning following, when I
delivered him Mr. Beaufoy's letter, and he gave me a kind invitation to
spend my time at his house until an opportunity should offer of
prosecuting my journey.
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