196 DEPARTURE WITH A CARAVAN FOR FOUTA JALLON. 
Jallon, who carried their merchandize on their heads, in 
oblong- baskets. They contained cottons and chiefly cloths, 
which these Negroes purchase in Bondou in exchange for 
- oxen, goats, gold, bows, and arrows. Three merchants of 
Foutatoro had asses laden with cloths rolled up in the form 
of large flattened cylinders, and leather bags filled with salt. 
Each traveller had an earthen pot, and his provision of dried 
couscous or pistachio-nuts in a leather bottle. My fellow- 
travellers wore cloths which hung in tatters ; this ragged dress, 
and the bow with which they were armed, gave them a com- 
pletely savage appearance. Two Poulas of Fouta Jallon had 
brouo-ht their wives alonsf with them. 
We had scarcely entered the woods, which are situated 
on the confines of Bondou and Fouta Jallon, when we heard 
the noise of a troop of elephants, about two hundred paces 
from us, among the high grass which covers the ground 
underneath the trees. By no means anxious to encounter 
those gigantic animals, we hastened our march to get out 
of their way. 
The Poulas, notwithstanding their lively disposition and 
robust constitution, are not very good travellers ; they are 
obliged to rest every hour. They have less strength than the 
Jolofls, but they are better able to endure privation. At 
midnight we halted near some Mandingo huts. Having 
tied my beasts to a tree, I went to look for some straw in 
the wood, for Boukari was so fatigued that he could not walk. 
