Extracts from the Travels of Mn'. Murtgo PaXke. 



a main article of their inland commerce. We passed, in 

 the course of the day, a great many villages, chiefly inha- 

 bited by fishermen, and in the evening arrived at Sansanding, 

 a large town containing as I was told, from eight to ten 

 thousand inhabitants; this place is much resorted to by the 

 Moors, who bring salt from Beroo and other Moorish coun- 

 tries, where on account of the want of rain, no cotton is 

 cultivated ; we rode near the town and river, passing by a 

 creek or harbour, where I observed twenty large canoes, 

 most of them fully loaded and covered with mats to keep 

 out the rain, and in short several others arrived with passen- 

 gers. The ensuing night I slept at Sibili, from whence, 

 the next day I arrived at IS'yara a large town at some 

 distance from the river, and the governor very civilly sent 

 his son to shew me the road to Modiboo, which he assured 

 me was at no great distance; we rode in a direct line thro* 

 the woods, but in general went forward with great circum- 

 spection, my guide frequently stopping and looking under 

 the bushes; on my enquiring the reason of this caution, he 

 told me that lions were very numerous in that part of the 

 country, and frequently attacked persons travelling in the 

 woods ; while he was speaking my horse started, and looking, 

 I observed a large animal of the Cameleopard kind standing 

 at a little distance, the neck and fore legs were very long, 

 the head was furnished with two short black horns turning; 

 backwards, the tail, which reached down to the ham joint, 

 had a tuft of hair at the end; the animal was of a mouse 

 colour, and it trotted away from us in a very sluggish man- 

 ner, moving its head from side to side to see if we were 

 pursuing it. 



Shortly after this, as we were crossing a large open 

 plain, where there were a few scattered bushes, my guide, 

 who was a little before me, wheeled his horse round in a 

 moment, calling out something in the Foulah language, 



