4 
INTRODUCTION. 
avoid the terrible almamy of Timbo, the travellers proceeded 
by water to the Gambia and sailed up the river. As soon 
as the expedition had landed^ it traversed Oulli and Gabon, 
and at length arrived in Bondou; but the inhabitants of 
Bondou are like those of Fouta-Diallon, equally fanatic, 
and equally malevolent, and their king showed not less ill 
will towards the English. Upon pretext of some old debt 
or other contracted by the English government, he de- 
manded such a quantity of goods that Major Gray was soon 
entirely stripped, and obliged, as will be seen hereafter, to 
send an officer to the Senegal to procure more, in the hope 
of obtaining a passage by means of them. 
I was ignorant of these unpleasant circumstances when 
I heard of the English expedition ; and not doubting that 
Major Gray, standing in need of hands, would eagerly 
accept the offer of my services, though I was a stranger to 
him, I determined to proceed by land to the Gambia. I set 
out from St. Louis, accompanied by two negroes who re- 
turned to Dakar, and took the road leading from Gandiolle 
to the peninsula of Cape Verd. We travelled on foot : I was 
then very young, and my companions were two vigorous 
walkers, so that I was obliged to run in order to keep up 
with them. I cannot express the fatigue I felt, under the 
oppressive heat, journeying over a burning and almost 
moving sand. If I could but have obtained a little fresh 
water to allay the thirst which consumed me ! — none was 
to be found but at some distance from the sea ; and we were 
obliged to keep near the beach, that we might have a more 
solid footing. My legs were covered with blisters, and I 
thought that I should have been knocked up before we 
reached Dakar : at length, however, we arrived at that 
village, where I made no stay, but immediately took a pas > 
sage in a boat which conveyed me to Goree. 
The torments which I had already endured led me to 
reflect on the still greater hardships to which I was about 
