16 PREPARATIONS FOR THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE. 
CHAPTER IL 
Instructions given to the Author. — Departure from St. Louis. — ■ 
Arrival at Niakra. — The Author is obliged to resume his European 
Dress. — He departs for Molasche. — Arrival at Coqué. — Tumult 
excited there by the Presence of an European Traveller. — Desert 
of the Joloff Country. — Description of the Kingdom of Cayor. 
Still engrossed by my project of visiting the interior of 
Africa, I returned to France, in 1817, to solicit permission to 
put it in execution. Aifairs of greater importance with which 
the minister was then engaged, prevented him from giving 
me a decisive answer. Nevertheless, I abridged the leave of 
absence which had been granted to me, and returned to 
Senegal, in hopes that M. de Fleuriau, the new governor 
of that colony, w^ould gratify my desires. I was not disap- 
pointed : this officer, who had always manifested great 
ardour for discoveries in the unknown regions of the 
interior of Africa, approved the plan which I presented to 
him in January, 1818, and authorised me to make the pre- 
