DEPARTURE FROM KAKONDY. 
1G9 
voured to interest their feelings in my behalf^ and to secure 
their assistance. In vain did M. Castagnet exert his elo- 
quence ; they were perfectly indifferent till he promised to 
reward them for any thing they should do for me 3 then 
indeed^ they showed great zeal to serve me^ and protested, 
every one of them, that they would treat me like their own 
son. 
They made some remarks upon the difficulties and 
fatigue which I should have to endure and which I might not 
have strength to sustain ; but, upon my reply that I was 
determined to bear every thing, that I might return to my 
country, they fixed a day for our departure. M. Castagnet 
gave them the value of an ox in merchandise, and the 
Mandingoes, as they had promised, procured a slave to carry 
mv small bundle. These arrangements were speedily ter- 
minated. 
On the J 9th of April, I took leave of M. Castagnet; 
and — shall J confess it ? — I shed tears at parting from this 
generous friend ; my regret at leaving him, however, sin- 
cere as it was, could not damp the joy which I felt in 
undertaking a journey upon which my mind had been bent 
for so many years. 
Our caravan consisted of five free Mandingoes, three 
slaves, my Foulah porter, my guide, and his wife. All 
except the last two and myself carried enormous burdens. 
We travelled along the left bank of the river Nunez^ 
and in two hours arrived at Mr. Belhman's factory. I again 
saw the graves of Major Peddie and other officers of the 
same expedition, and was seized with an involuntary shud- 
der at the thought that the same fate perhaps awaited me ; 
these sad forebodings vanished however on leaving the 
tombs, and gave way to hopes of a happier issue. 
At nine in the morning we directed our course S. S. E, 
Ibrahim my guide, to whom I had given several articles 
stopped all of a sudden, and told me, by means of a 
