INTERIOR OF AFRICA. 3 
It was at first proposed that I should accompany Mr. James 
Willis, who was then recently appointed Consul at Senegambia, 
and whose countenance in that capacity it was thought might 
have served and protected me ; but Government afterwards 
rescinded his appointment, and I lost that advantage. The 
kindness of the Committee, however, supplied all that was 
necessary. Being favoured by the Secretary of the Association, 
the late Henry Beaufoy, Esq. with a recommendation to Dr. 
John Laidley (a gentleman who had resided many years at an 
English factory on the banks of the Gambia), and furnished 
with a letter of credit on him for £200, I took my passage in 
the brig Endeavour, a small vessel trading to the Gambia for 
bees-wax and ivory, commanded by Captain Richard Wyatt, 
and I became impatient for my departure. 
My instructions were very plain and concise. I was directed, 
on my arrival in Africa, " to pass on to the river Niger, either 
by the way of Bambouk, or by such other route as should be 
found most convenient. That I should ascertain the course, and, 
if possible, the rise and termination of that river. That I should 
use my utmost exertions to visit the principal towns or cities in 
its neighbourhood, particularly Tombuctoo and Houssa ; and 
that I should be afterwards at liberty to return to Europe, 
either by the way of the Gambia^ or by such other route, as, 
under all the then existing circumstances of my situation and 
prospects, should appear to me to be most advisable." 
We sailed from Portsmouth on the 22d day of May, 1795. On 
the 4th of June, we saw the mountains over Mogadore, on the 
coast of Africa; and on the 21st of the same month, after a 
Ba 
