THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 825 
had visited Tombuctoo, that the canoes upon the 
Niger were large, and not made of one tree, but of i 
various planks united, and navigated by white people. 
From Medina, Major Houghton advanced to Bam- 
bouk, and, after crossing the Faleme, at Cacullo, 
in lat. 13° 54/, arrived at Ferbanna. Here he 
was entertained with extraordinary hospitality by 
the king of Bambouk, who not only gave him di- 
rections for pursuing his route to Tombuctoo, but , 
furnished him with a guide, and with money to 
defray the expences of the journey. After his de- 
parture from Bambouk, the route which he pur- 
sued is not accurately known. It appears, how- 
ever, that having, in opposition to the opinion of 
his friends in England, and even to that which he 
himself had stated, encumbered himself with an 
assortment of bale goods, consisting of linen, scar- 
let-cloth, cutlery ware, beads, and ambers ; the 
powerful attractions which these presented to the 
rapacity of the natives, involved him in perpetual 
contests. After surmounting many difficulties, he 
took a northern direction, and endeavoured to pe- 
netrate through Ludamar. From Simbing, the 
frontier village of this state, which is situated in a 
narrow pass between two rocky hills, and encom- 
passed with a high wall, he wrote with a pencil his 
last letter to Dr Laidley, when he was deserted 
by his negro servants, who refused to follow him 
into the Moorish territory. This letter was dated 
