xii 
ACCOUNT OF THE 
miles up the same river, where he arrived on the 5th of 
July, and was most hospitably received by Dr. Laidley, a 
gentleman who had resided many years at that settlement. 
He remained at Dr. Laidley^s house for several months, in 
order to learn the Mandingo language, which is in general 
use throughout that part of Africa, and also to collect in- 
formation concerning the countries he intended to visit. 
During two of these months he was confined by a severe 
fever, caught by imprudently exposing himself during the 
rainy season. 
He left Pi sail ia on the 2d of December, 1795, directing 
his course easterly, with a view of proceeding to the River 
Joliba, or Niger. But in conse'quence of a war between 
two sovereigns in the Interior, he was obliged, after he 
had made some progress, to take a northerly' direction to- 
wards the territory of the Moors. He arrived at Jarra, the 
frontier town of that country, on the 18th of February, 
1796. Pursuing his journey from thence, he was taken and 
detained as a prisoner, by Ali, the chieftain or king of 
that territory, on the 7th of March ; and after a long cap- 
tivity and a series of unexampled hardships, escaped at 
last with great difficulty early in the month of July. 
The period was now approaching when he was to receive 
some compensation for so many sufferings. After wandering 
in great misery for about three weeks through the African 
Wilderness, he arrived at Sego, the capital of Bambarra, a 
city which is said to contain thirty thousand inhabitants. 
He was gratified at the same time by the first sight of the 
Niger, the great object of his journey ; and ascertained the 
extraordinary fact, that its course is fiom West to East. 
