340 THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION* 
united, and navigated by white people. From 
Medina, Major Houghton advanced to Bambouki 
and, after crossing the Faleme at Cacullo, in lat. 
13° 54', arrived at Ferbanna. Here he was en- 
tertained with extraordinary hospitality by the 
king of Bambouk, who not only gave him direc- 
tions for pursuing his route to Tombuctoo, but 
furnished him with a guide, and with money to 
defray the expences of the journey. After his 
departure from Bambouk, the route which he pur- 
sued is not accurately known. It appears, how- 
ever, that having, in opposition to the opinion of 
his friends in England, and even to that which he 
himself had stated, encumbered himself with an 
assortment of bale goods, consisting of linen, scar- 
let-cloth, cutlery ware, beads, and ambers ; the 
powerful attractions which these presented to the 
rapacity of the natives, involved him in perpetual 
contests. After surmounting many difficulties, 
he took a northern direction, and endeavoured to 
penetrate through Ludamar. From Simbing, the 
frontier village of this state, which is situated in 
a narrow pass between two rocky hills, and en- 
compassed with a high wall, he wrote with a 
pencil his last letter to Dr Laidley, when he was 
deserted by his negro servants, who refused to 
follow him into the Moorish territory. This letter 
was dated September 1. 1791, and expressed in 
the following terms : " Major Houghton's com- 
