466 
park's second journey. 
case, &c. were all natural rock. They observed, 
also, several lofty insulated cliffs of granite. In 
short, the whole country between the Ba Fing 
and Ba Lee, two tributaries of the Senegal, is said 
to be rugged and grand beyond all power of des- 
cription. 
At Konkromo Mr Park had an opportunity of 
seeing the mode of smelting gold. The metal 
was put into a crucible of common red clay dried 
in the sun, and then fused by the application of 
bellows to a charcoal fire. The melted gold was 
then poured into a furrow, and, when cold, was 
hammered into a square bar. After being again 
heated, it was twisted, by two pairs of pincers, 
into the form of a ring. 
The party crossed with difficulty the Ba Fing, 
which is here a large navigable river. One of 
the men was drowned, in consequence of a canoe 
oversetting. The people here, says Mr Park, are 
all thieves. Scarcely a day now passed, without 
some one of the men either dying or being left be- 
hind. At Koeena, on the 2d of July, they had 
an alarm from three animals whom they at first 
supposed to be wild boars, but who proved to be 
young lions. After prowling about all day, they 
at midnight attacked the asses, which all broke 
their ropes, and rushed in among the tents. One 
of the lions came so near, that the sentry made a 
