166 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
expressed so strong an aversion to accompany 
the mission any further, and appeared so deter- 
mined on returning to the coast, that I found it 
necessary to consent to his doing so, being aware 
that with such a feeUng on his part, his future 
services (were I to oppose him) would not be 
satisfactory. Private Nicholson too, who had la- 
boured for several months under chronic dysen- 
tery, and was reduced to a perfect skeleton, re- 
quested the like indulgence, and was in like man- 
ner permitted to return ; and as I was informed 
by Captain Dechastelieu, that one of his vessels 
would return to St. Louis in a few days, I took 
advantage of an invitation from him, in the 
name of the other officers of his fleet, to repair 
to Conghell, a town of Galam, on the banks of 
the Senegal, (about fourteen miles from our 
camp), where they then were, in order to obtain 
a passage for them, and which was offered by the 
officer commanding the vessels, in the most hand- 
some manner, before I had time to ask it. 
On my return to the camp, I apprised Mr. 
Pilkington of the readiness expressed by the of- 
ficer commanding the French vessels to accom- 
modate him in every way possible, and, having 
placed in his charge some effects belonging to 
tlie deceased officers, directed to his Excellency 
the Governor of Sierra Leone, he left the camp 
on the 4th of November, accompanied by the 
