REFRACTORY BULLOCK. 
33 
mimosas form a thick wood under which the zizyphus 
lotus grows in abundance. This soil would be extremely fer- 
tile if it were cultivated. 
Having reached the marigot the negroes began to look 
for their canoes which they had sunk in the water for con- 
cealment : they were very small, and could not carry the 
baggage across in fewer than six trips, which greatly de- 
layed our journey. 
When the negroes left us, the Moors would have obliged 
me to return with them, hoping no doubt to extort from me 
a fresh present : but 1 was firm, and reminding Boubou- 
Fanfale of the engagement which he made when receiving 
my two gourdes, I persisted in going along with them* At 
two o'clock we resumed our journey. We halted two miles 
N. E. of Koundy, on a pretty hill covered with verdure. 
The soil consisted of a reddish sand, and the ground was 
quite open. The bullocks there found abundant pasturage, 
and they were suffered to graze till five o'clock, when we 
resumed our route, proceeding N. E. J N. We travelled 
in the night : the bullocks were already extremely fatigued, 
and one of them lay down. The Moors, unable to make 
it rise by blows, had recourse to a method which I have fre- 
quently seen used since, and which is always successful : 
they bound a cord tight round the muzzle so as to prevent 
respiration and left the animal to itself. It struggled for a 
moment, and then jumped upon its legs : the cord was im- 
mediately removed, its load replaced, and it followed the 
others. After we had gone nine miles in the same direction, 
we halted at eleven at night. 
We were threatened with a storm : the firmament was 
on fire in the east quarter, and the thunder rolled inces- 
santly. The Moors dug large holes, into which they put 
their goods to preserve them from the rain which seemed 
likely to be very heavy. The wind blew with violence from 
the east, and raised clouds of sand, which, falling again, 
VOL. I. D 
