35° .. TRAVELS IN THE 'I 
south-west. About ten o'clock we met a coffle of twenty-six 
people, and seven loaded asses returning from the Gambia. 
Most of the men were armed with muskets, and had broad 
belts of scarlet cloth over their shoulders, and European hats 
upon their heads. They informed us that there was very little 
demand for slaves on the Coast, as no vessel had arrived for 
some months past. On hearing this, the Serawoollies, who 
had travelled with us from the Faleme river, separated them- 
selves and their slaves from the coffle. They had not, they 
said, the means of maintaining their slaves in Gambia, until a 
vessel should arrive; and were unwilling to sell them to dis- 
advantage : they therefore departed to the northward for 
Kajaaga. We continued our route through the Wilderness, 
and travelled all day through a rugged country, covered with 
extensive thickets of bamboo. At sunset, to our great joy, we 
arrived at a pool of water near a large Tabba tree, whence the 
place is called Tabba-gee, and here we rested a few hours. 
The water at this season of the year is by no means plentiful 
in these woods; and as the days were insufferably hot, Karfa 
proposed to travel in the night. Accordingly, about eleven 
o'clock, the slaves were taken out of their irons, and the 
people of the coffle received orders to keep close together; as 
well to prevent the slaves from attempting to escape, as on 
account of the wild beasts. We travelled with great alacrity 
until daybreak, when it was discovered that a free woman had 
parted from the coffle in the night : her name was called until 
the woods resounded ; but no answer being given, we conjectured 
that she had either mistaken the road, or that a lion had seized 
