STIBBS^S EXPEDITION. 
19S 
sage up to Barraconda. Near Joar they observed 
a ridge of hills of a red colour, stretching towards 
the eastward. The current was not more rapid 
than is usual in English rivers, and, being assist- 
ed by the tide, they ascended with little difficulty. 
The natives everywhere shewed the utmost readi- 
ness to trade ; at one place, there appeared on the 
coast three sticks erected cross ways, which they 
found, on inquiry, to be a saphie, or charm, to 
draw white men on shore. As they approached 
Barraconda, sinister rumours began to arise re- 
specting the country beyond. They were assur- 
ed that it was destitute of all supplies, and pos- 
sessed by a cruel and treacherous race. Stibbs, 
however, had reason to believe, that these rumours 
were excited partly by the anxiety of the natives 
to monopolize all the commodities which he 
brought with him, and partly by the reluctance 
of his own attendants to proceed farther. He 
learned on better authority, that the town of Bar- 
raconda had been broke, that is, entirely destroy- 
ed, and its inhabitants carried off by a hostile 
chieftain. Accordingly, on arriving there, they 
scarcely found ruins sufficient to indicate the site 
on which this trading town, once so famous, had 
stood. A spacious plain here extended four miles 
from the river, being the most extensive track of 
level land he had yet seen on the Gambia. Next 
day, the negroes in a body announced their de« 
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