70 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
and were left on the path in a dying state. To 
transport the loads of those animals we were 
obliged to hire carriers, a sufficient number of 
which we had much difficulty in procuring. 
Our own men were obliged to assist. The town 
of Pisania, which formerly stood within a short 
distance of Tandicunda, was then a heap of 
ruins, having been some years since abandoned 
by Mr. Amsley, in consequence of the annoy- 
ance he frequently experienced from the people 
of Bondoo and Woolli. Its situation was ex- 
tremely beautiful, being close to the river-side, 
on an elevated spot shaded with large trees, and 
most conveniently placed for commercial pur- 
poses. 
We left Tandicunda at five o'clock on the 
morning of the S9th, and travelled to the east, 
over a country beautifully diversified, to Samee, 
a small walled town containing about a hun- 
dred and twenty huts. The inhabitants are 
Sonikeas or Pagans. Dyeing with indigo is here 
carried on to some extent. About a quarter 
of a mile to the south-east, by a small creek 
or branch of the Gambia, its water good and 
plentiful, we halted, under a large tree, which 
afforded the most grateful shelter to all from the 
excessive heat of the sun. One of our moors 
had so severe an attack of remittent fever as to 
be unable to keep up ; one of the native civi- 
lians was left with him. 
