28 
TRAVELS IN THE 
tuation, greater precision has been found necessary ; and at this 
time, the current value of a single bar of any kind is fixed by 
the whites at two shillings sterling. Thus a slave, whose price 
is £ig. is said to be worth 150 bars. 
In transactions of this nature, it is obvious that the white 
trader has infinitely the advantage over the African, whom, 
therefore, it is difficult to satisfy; for, conscious of his own ig- 
norance, he naturally becomes exceedingly suspicious and wa- 
vering ; and indeed so very unsettled and jealous are theNegroes 
in their dealings with the whites, that a bargain is never con- 
sidered by the European as concluded, until the purchase money 
is paid, and the party has taken leave. 
Having now brought together such general observations on 
the country, and its inhabitants, as occurred to me during my 
residence in the vicinage of the Gambia, I shall detain the 
reader no longer with introductory matter, but proceed, in the 
next Chapter, to a regular detail of the incidents which hap- 
pened, and the refl;ections which arose in my mind, in the 
course of my painful and perilous journey, from its commence- 
ment, until my return to the Gambia. 
