BOURRE — PELLALLE, 
285 
restored me to liberty, fearing" lest they might repent having 
granted it to me. The haste with which we marched, 
prevented me from stopping- my ass on the edge of a precipice, 
which, however, was- not very deep ; he fell, and dragged me 
with him; I lay extended on the ground for an hour, without 
the power of rising, and was so bruised, that with infinite 
difficulty I crawled as far as Bourré, where we slept. 
Had I not been flying from assassins I could not possibly 
have kept up my spirits, and continued travelling in the sad 
condition to which I was reduced. When the sun had risen, 
I gave fifteen grains of amber to Mamadou, who had so well 
pleaded my cause in the council held on the 13th of June, and 
we departed. It was not without great toil that we climbed 
the mountains which surround Bourré ; their summit was 
enveloped in the clouds, and we found it difficult to breathe 
there. On quitting this elevated tract, we crossed an immense 
plain, destitute of all vegetation, and halted at Pellalle, a 
village inhabited by Djalonkes. Although it was only four 
leagues from Bourré, the rains had not yet fallen in the 
district which surrounded us, as was clearly pi'oved by the 
appearance of the plain which I have just mentioned. Per- 
haps the high mountains which are situated to the east, and 
extend from north to south, retard the period of the rains ; - 
the western breeze still cooled the air here. 
In this part of Fouta Diallon, the Negroes construct their 
habitations on the tops of the highest and steepest mountains. 
