They Were Governed By Chenoos, With A Power Nearly Absolute, And Having Mafooks Under Them, Who Were Chiefly Employed In The Collection Of Revenue.

The people were merry, idle, good-humoured, hospitable, and liberal, with rather an innocent and agreeable expression of countenance.

The greatest blemish in their character appeared in the treatment of the female sex, on whom they devolved all the laborious duties of life, even more exclusively than is usual among negro tribes, holding their virtues also in such slender esteem, that the greatest chiefs unblushingly made it an object of traffic. Upon this head, however, they have evidently learned much evil from their intercourse with Europeans. The character of the vegetation, and the general aspect of nature, are pretty nearly the same on the Congo, as on the other African rivers.

Meantime the other part of the expedition, under Major Peddie, whose destination it was to descend the Niger, arrived at the mouth of the Senegal. Instead of the beaten track along the banks of that river or of the Gambia, he preferred the route through the country of the Foulahs, which, though nearer, was more difficult and less explored. On the 17th November 1816, he sailed from the Senegal, and on the 14th December, the party, consisting of one hundred men, and two hundred animals, landed at Kakundy, on the Rio Nunez; but before they could begin their march, Major Peddie was attacked with fever, and died. Captain Campbell, on whom the command devolved, proceeded on the line proposed till he arrived at a small river, called the Ponietta, on the frontier of the Foulah territory.

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