Mr. Park's Travels in the unexplored Parts of Jfrica, 33 1 



He continued all the next day in the village without receiving any orders from the king, 

 «nd found himfelf the obje£l of utiiverfal obfervatlon and enquiry. He foon heard enough 

 to convince him that the fufpicions of the Moors and flave-traders refiding in Sego were 

 Tery inimical to him; and that many confultations had been held with the king concerning 

 his reciption and difpofal. On the third day however the meflenger arrived with a prefent 

 of five thoufand kowries, to enable him to purchafe provifions in his journey from. Sego, 

 from the vicinage of which he was commanded to depart immediately. From various cir- 

 cumftances.itfeemed probable that the king would have admitted Mr. Park into his prefence, 

 if he could have protcfled him againft the malice and fanaticifm of the Moors, and if the 

 ftory of Mr. Park had been more comprehenfible by men, who could not conceive how the 

 defire of extending knowledge could have induced him to travel through fuch an extent of 

 country, vviihout other views of a more objectionable nature. From other enquiries it 

 was alfo rendered certain, that our traveller would have expofed himfelf to certain dellruc- 

 rion from the iMoors, if he had ventured to proceed much further to the weftward without 

 the proteftion of feme leading man among them, which he had no means of procuring. 

 Notwithftanding thefe difcouraging circumftances, he determined to endeavour to pene- 

 trate further aiong the banks of the Niger. The firft town of note at which he arrived 

 after leaving Sego, was called Kabba. This town is fituated in the midil of a beautiful 

 and higlily cultivated country, bearing a greater refemblance to the centre of England than 

 Mr. Park could have fuppofed to have been in the middle of Africa, and the feafon was that 

 ef the fliea harveft, or gathering in the fruit which produces the fliea-toulou or tree-butter, 

 the great abundance of which in this quarter was altonilhing. The growth and preparaton 

 of this commodity feem to be among the firft objeif^s of African indullry, in this and the 

 neighbouring ftates, and it conftitutes a main article of their inland commerce. From 

 Kabba, Mr. Park and his guide proceeded to Sanfanding, where notwithitanding his endea- 

 Tours to avoid the notice of the Moors, he underwent their infults for a confuierable time. 



Leaving Hiis place early in the morning, he proceeded to a town called Nyara, and thence 

 to Modiboo, a delightful place on the banks of the river, which is here very broad and en- 

 livened with many fmall and verdant iflands, all of them flocked with cattle, and crowded 

 with villages. Here he was again compelled to fet off abruptly for.fear of the Moors. Tiie 

 limit of his expedition to the weftward was Silla, a large town on the fouthern fide of the 

 Niger, in 1° 24' Weft of Greenwich, and latitude 14° 4,8' North, where, from the aggregate 

 of unfavourable circumftances, it became abfoluteiy neceflary, for him to return. 



The town of Silla, whence Mr. Park began his journey homeward, is within two (hortdays 

 journey of Jcnne, which is fituated on an ifland in the river. At the diftance of two dayS' 

 more, the river empties itfclf into a confiderable, lake called Dibbie, (or the dark lake) con- 

 cerning the extent of which, all the information which could be obtained was, that, in croft- 

 ing it from weft to eafl-, the canoes lofe fight of land one whole day. From this lake the 

 water iffues in many different ftreanis, which terminate in two large branches, one whereof 

 flows towards the north-eaft, the ( ther to the eaft ; but they join again at Kabra, one day's 

 journey to the fouthward of Tombucloo, and the port, or Ihippmg place, of that city. I "he 

 tradt of land which the two ftreams encircle, is called Jinbala, and is inhabited by negroes j-, 

 and the whole diftance by land from Jenne to Tombudtoo, is twelve days journey. 



From Kabra, at the diftance of eleven days journey down the ilrearti, the river paffes to = 



th»^. 



