THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 
315 
The kingdom of Degombah is represented as pe- 
culiarly wealthy and civilized, and as distinguished 
by the art, elsewhere unknown in Africa, of tam- 
ing the elephant. The articles of trade are gold, 
slaves, goat-skins, bufFaloe hides, and a species of 
nut, called Gooroo. 
The difficulty experienced in penetrating from 
the north into central Africa, began to turn men's 
attention to the western shore of the continent. 
The establishment formed at Sierra Leone seemed 
to offer peculiar facilities for expeditions of disco- 
very on that side. In 1794, Foota Jallo, the ex- 
tensive and powerful state in the interior of Sierra 
Leone, was explored in 1794 by Messrs Watt and 
Winterbottom, two gentlemen in the service of the 
Sierra Leone Company, who undertook this expe- 
dition upon being informed by some of the Fou- 
lahs, that their king was desirous of establishing an 
intercourse with the colony. They sailed up the 
Rio Nunez to Kocundy, where they procured in- 
terpreters and guides, and experienced various ci- 
vilities from a mulatto trader in its vicinity. Leav- 
ing Kocundy, February 7» 1794, they travelled six- 
teen days through a country in many places bar- 
ren, but in others extremely fruitful, abounding 
remarkably in cattle. After crossing some small 
rivers, among which the Dunso seems to be a con- 
tinuation of the Rio Grande, they arrived at Laby. 
