58 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
luxury. The soil is dry, the air very healthy ; and the 
King of Woolli told me that no white man had ever 
died at Fataconda.” 
Houghton then followed the Faleme river as far as 
Cacullo, which in D’Anville’s map is called Cacoulon, 
and whilst in Bambouk gleaned a few facts about the 
Djoliba river, which runs through the interior of the 
Soudan. The direction of this river he ascertained to be 
southward as far as Djeneh, then west by east to Tim- 
buctoo—facts which were later confirmed by Mungo 
Park. The traveller was cordially received by the King 
of Bambouk, who provided him with a guide to Tim- 
buctoo, and with cowries to pay his expenses during the 
journey. It was hoped that Houghton would reach the 
Niger without accident, when a note, written in pencil 
and half effaced, reached Dr. Laidley. It was dated 
from Simbing, and stated that the traveller had been 
robbed of his baggage, but that he was prosecuting his 
journey to Timbuctoo. This was followed by accounts 
from various sources, which gave rise to a suspicion that 
Kouohton had been assassinated in Bambara. His fate 
O 
was uncertain until it was discovered by Mungo Park. 
Walknaer says :— 
“ Shubina-, where Houghton wrote the last words 
ever received from him, is a little walled town on the 
frontier of the kingdom of Ludamar. Here he was 
o 
abandoned by his negro servants, who were unwilling 
to accompany him to the country of the Moors. Still 
he continued his route, and, after surmounting many 
obstacles, he advanced to the north, and endeavoured to 
cross the kingdom of Ludamar. Finally he reached 
Yaouri, and made the acquaintance of several merchants, 
on their way to sell salt at Tischet, a town situated near 
the marshes of the great desert, and six days’ journey 
north of Yaouri. Then, by bribing the merchants with 
a gun and a little tobacco, he persuaded them to conduct 
him to Tischet. All this would lead us to suppose that 
the Moors deceived him, either as to the route he should 
have followed, or as to the state of the country between 
Yaouri and Timbuctoo. 
