TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
331 
fore necessitated to wait for the arrival of the 
fleet from Saint Louis, the return of which 
would afford me the most expeditious and safe 
means of reaching the coast. This however did 
not take place before the 24th of September, 
when, having been accommodated with a pas- 
sage for my men and self on board one of the 
French steam ships, we left Baquelle and de- 
scended the river which was then very much 
swollen. We arrived at St. Louis on the 8th of 
October, and were hospitably received by the 
French Governor, Captain Le Coupe, who po- 
litely offered me every assistance I might re- 
quire. 
Here I waited a fortnight, in hopes of meet- 
ing a vessel going to the Gambia or Sierra Leone, 
but none offering, I proceeded by land to Goree, 
where I arrived on the 3d of November, and 
met with a vessel ready to sail for the Bathurst 
Gambia. The rapid improvement that had taken 
place since I left it in 1818, struck me with 
pleasing astonishment, and as a description of the 
island may not be uninteresting to some, I will 
endeavour to give it as correctly as the time I 
spent there enables me to do ; but I am aware 
that it possesses many advantages beyond those 
which came under my observation. See Article 
First, Appendix. 
I returned to Sierra Leone on board his Ma- 
