WOOLLI— BONDOU. 
349 
ed the wilderness. His attendants having pre- 
pared a saphicy or charm, to avert misfortune^ 
advanced with courage, and soon arrived at a 
large tree, decorated with innumerable scraps of 
cloth, as custom had directed every traveller, 
who desired a fortunate journey, to hang up some- 
thing on its branches. This practice, originally 
intended to mark a watering-place, had degene- 
rated to a blind superstition ; and to encourage 
his attendants, Mr Park followed the example of 
the negroes. On the 13th he arrived at Tallika, 
the frontier town of Bondou, and traversed a 
fertile champaign country, till he reached Koor- 
karany^ in N. lat. 13° 58\ being only interrupted 
by a quarrel between two of his attendants, which 
he terminated by threatening to shoot the person 
who had drawn his cutlass, if he attempted again 
to molest any of the company. At Koorkarany 
the Marabout shewed him various Arabic MSS, 
and, among the rest, the Al Sharra. From Koor- 
karany they proceeded through an open culti- 
vated country, till they reached the banks of the 
Faleme, covered with large fields of corn ; the 
mimosa grew on the stony heights, and whinstone 
and quartz were often observed. Some wells 
which they passed were dug with great ingenuity, 
to the depth of twenty-eight fathoms. The villa- 
gers on the Faleme were skilful fishers. They 
prepare their fish by pounding them in a mortar. 
