MR PARK'S FIRST JOURNEY. 375 
ways procure a guide, he was often obliged to 
wade breast- deep across the swamps ; and though 
he recovered his horse at Modiboo, his journey Was 
not only uncomfortable and dangerous, but his re- 
ception was every where more unfavourable than 
in his journey to Silla. At Sansanding, he learn- 
ed that the suspicions concerning the object of his 
journey had so much increased, that he was uni- 
versally believed to be a spy ; and he was inform- 
ed that the king of Bambarra had dispatched a ca- 
noe to Jenne to bring him back to Sego. This 
intelligence had almost determined Mr Park to 
swim his horse across the Niger, and attempt to 
penetrate to Cape Coast, through Kong or Gon- 
jah, which was ten days' journey to the south. 
But, on considering the dangers which it was ne- 
cessary to encounter, among nations whose lan- 
guage and manners were equally unknown, he re- 
solved to advance towards the west along the Ni- 
ger, and ascertain its navigable course in that di- 
rection. Leaving the vicinity of Sego, on the 13th of 
August, he travelled rapidly over a populous and fer- 
tile country, but through roads whkh the mud ren- 
dered almost impassable, frequently swimming over 
the creeks with the bridle of his horse in his teeth, 
and his papers in the crown of his hat ; mistaken 
frequently for a Moor ; always received with rude- 
ness and suspicion, subsisting on the same raw corn 
with his horse, unless when the superstition of the 
