SHRONDO GOLD-PITS. 
463 
grievously afflicting their whole number, actually 
caused the death of several of the cattle. 
The travellers successively passed Sibikillin, 
Badoo, and Tambacunda. They saw at a dis- 
tance the hills of Foota Jallo, between which and 
a castellated mountain called Muianta, the Gam- 
bia was seen descending. This river is called 
by the natives the Ba Deena. The travellers 
proceeded by Julifunda and Baniserlie, and on 
the 8th crossed the Faleme. On the same day 
they experienced, for the first time, a tornado, or 
storm of violent rain, accompanied with thunder 
and lightning, which proved for them the begins 
ning of sorrows. In three days twelve men were 
on the sick list, and the ground being covered 
with water to the depth of three inches, left no 
prospect but of augmented distress. The imme- 
diate effect of these storms was to produce an al- 
most irresistible propensity to sleep, and to make 
it impossible for them to refrain from lying down 
on the wet bundles, or even on the ground. 
At Shrondo, Mr Park obtained an opportunity 
of seeing the process of washing for gold. A 
woman went with him to a meadow, where there 
w^ere about thirty pits, similar to those described 
in treating of Bambouk. Beside them were lying 
heaps of sand and gravel, to be conveyed to the 
wash-pits, which were shallow, circular, and lined 
with clay. All the machinery required, consisted 
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