MR PARK'S FIRST JOURNEY. 
361 
fused to relieve his necessities, and the men pro- 
posed to convey him back to Ali. Mr Park de- 
ceived them, taking a retrograde direction, as if he 
had been returning to the Moors ; but before his 
departure, he addressed a venerable old woman, 
who was spinning cotton at the door of one of the 
huts, and made signs that he was hungry ; upon 
which she invited him to enter her hut, set before 
him a bowl of kouskous, and also procured corn 
for his horse. Mr Park presented her with one 
of his pocket handkerchiefs. All day he travers- 
ed a fertile country ; the third day the track be- 
came more hilly, and he arrived at a watering- 
place belonging to the Foulhas, where he was re- 
ceived with great hospitality. Journeying on dur- 
ing the night, at the approach of some travellers, 
he concealed himself among the thickets, where he 
sat, holding his horse by the nose, with both his 
hands, in equal danger from the travellers in the 
open ground, and the wild beasts by which the 
bushes were haunted. Next day, July 5th, he reach- 
ed Wawra, a small town surrounded with high 
walls, inhabited by Mandingoes and Foulahs, sub- 
ject to Bambarra. He was now beyond the boun- 
daries of Ludamar and the tyranny of Ali. Though 
this prince had been successful in his former wars 
against Bambarra, his army never exceeded 2000 
cavalry. But though these compose his military 
force, they form but a small proportion of his Moor- 
