76 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
We left Pakeba on the 1st of May, at six in. 
the morning, and travelled ne. by e. until 
nine, when we reached Sandoo Madina. The 
path good, over a sandy soil, mixed with small 
iron-stone gravel, thinly covered with thorny 
underwood and dry grass. Two more horses 
were abandoned at Pakeba, as useless, and one 
left behind on the path. Our moor continued 
very unwell. In addition to fever, he had a very 
severe pulmonic attack, and on the whole so 
weak, that I almost despaired of his recovery. 
At three in the morning, previous to leaving 
Pakeba, we were alarmed by screams, appa- 
rently of some person in agony. We imme- 
diately repaired to the spot, accompanied by 
some of the watch. There we found the wife of 
Yarra Comba, one of the native civilians from 
Sierra Leone, weltering in her blood, having re- 
ceived three very severe wounds on the head 
from her husband, who, exasperated at her re- 
fusing to desert with him (a step, he told her,, 
he was about to take), and fearing, we supposed, 
that she would give the alarm, after thus bru- 
tally attempting to seal her lips, by taking her 
life, made his escape ; in accomplishing which 
he succeeded, being favoured by a dark night, 
and an intricately wooded country. 
The wounds appeared to be all but fatal ; the 
exterior membrane of the brain, was visible in 
