3i8 
C A G N A N S O. 
than once : it was made out of a single tree, but was now 
old, broken, and patched with pieces of rotten pagne, which 
would not keep out the water ; fortunately the stream was 
not very wide, and we arrived at the right bank without 
accident. Arafanba accompanied me for a mile, and parted 
from me with great regret, after charging my guide to take 
care of me. Arafanba was the most amiable and aerreeable 
Mandingo I had seen ; and (what even now surprises me 
when I think of it) he never asked me for any thing, and 
appeared quite contented with the very moderate present 
which my means allowed me to make. We travelled E. S. E. 
for two miles, over a very fine black mould, intermingled 
with gravel ; I saw only a few poor fields of foigne not yet in 
flower, though the harvest was over in Wassoulo ; we crossed 
a tottering bridge, and arrived at Cagnanso, a little walled 
village which we did not enter. I noticed a shop belonging 
to some smiths, who were not better lodged than those 
which were on the coast ; they make, however, agricultual 
implements, poniards, bracelets, and barbs for their arrows ; 
the iron they use comes from Fouta-Dhialon. The environs 
of this village, which are inhabited by Bambaras, are uncul- 
tivated, but thickly studded with large trees, and covered 
with straw, which last impeded my progress greatly, caus- 
ing me terrible pain, by fretting my wound and rubbing off 
the plaster ; this, added to the water which covered the roads, 
and the rain which fell in torrents, fatigued me extremely. 
I longed to find a shelter where 1 might rest myself; we 
nevertheless continued our journey towards the S. S. E. 
After walking seven miles, we passed Coro, another walled 
Bambara village, which contains about four or five hundred 
inhabitants ; the environs are no better cultivated than those 
of Cagnanso. We proceeded six miles further to the south; 
the country is woody and flat, and the road covered with 
gravel, which rendered walking very fatiguing. I saw no 
signs of cultivation, and we crossed several marshes. About 
