CAPTAIN TUCKEY'S NARRATIVE. 203 



At five P. M. passed a second brook, but the bearers tel- 

 ling us there was another further on, we continued our march 

 till six. Pitched the tent, and sent the bearers for water ; 

 but they returned with empty vessels, saying the brook was 

 dried up ; and most provokingly seated themselves with the 

 utmost indifference round the fire ; and tho' we had not 

 a drop of water, they would not move until I put the above 

 ftiethod in practice, when six of them went back to the brook 

 we had left. 



Some showers of rain now fell. In the middle of the night 

 we found ourselves attacked by a swarm of ants, which fairly 

 beat us out of the tent, as we preferred the wet grass to the 

 torment they occasioned. 



Sep. 3. Pratt iDcing unable to proceed from his fever, I 

 sent him back to Inga with two of the bearers ; and at eight 

 A. M. set off with the rest ; the most horrible road, throiigh 

 narrow gullies not 18 inches wide and six feet deep, which 

 had been formed by the rains excavating the rocks. 



On the summit of one of the hills Ave met a caravan 

 of slave traders going to Embomma, consisting of 30 men 

 (eight with muskets), the rest loaded with cassava and ground 

 nuts, some of which they kindly gave us. One man and 

 four boy slaves were from the Soonda country : all said they 

 were taken in the bushes. One of the boys made the most 



