204 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
opinion the thing was impossible, and dispersed 
themselves through the country in search of 
every thing they could remove. 
It was in this situation that Almamy, who got 
intelligence of Modiba's leaving Karta for Bon- 
doo, found them on his return (a circumstance 
so unexpected by the Kartans that they did not 
even secure the prisoners they had taken by send- 
ing them to Toobab-en-Cane* whence Almamy 
could never have recovered them), and succeed- 
ed in gaining possession of his own palace, be- 
ing but feebly opposed by those who remained 
as a sort of body-guard over Modiba. 
In this situation both armies remained some 
days, exchanging shots from the turrets of their 
respective stations, but the Kartan army hav- 
ing totally expended their ammunition, and a 
supply sent for to Toobab-en-Cane not having ar- 
rived, Almamy made so spirited and determined 
an attack on their position, that they were un- 
able to withstand it, and retreated in the utmost 
confusion, leaving such an immense number of 
stragglers all over the country, so ignorant of what 
had taken place, that the very women of Bon- 
doo made some of them prisoners, all of whom, 
on this occasion, and in retaliation for similar 
conduct on the part of Modiba towards every 
* Samba Congole's Town. 
