AFRICAN EXPLORERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 63 
making him pay for the right to pass through his king¬ 
dom. Fortunately for him, the nephew of Demba-Jego- 
Jalla, King of Kasson, who was about to return to his 
country, took him under his protection. They reached 
Gongadi, where there are extensive date plantations, 
together, and thence proceeded to Sarnia, on the shores 
of the Senegal, on the frontiers of Kasson. 
The first town met with in this kingdom was that of 
Tiesie, which was reached by Mungo Park on the 31st 
of December. Well received by the natives, who sold 
him the provisions he needed at a reasonable price, the 
traveller was subjected by the brother and nephew of 
the king to endless indignities. 
Leaving this town upon the 10th of January, 1796, 
Mungo Park reached Ivuniakari, the capital of Kasson 
—a fertile, rich, and well-populated country, which can 
place forty thousand men under arms. The king, full 
of kindly feeling for the traveller, wished him to remain 
in his kingdom as long as the wars between Kasson and 
Kajaaga lasted. It was more than probable that the 
countries of Kaarta and Bambara, which Mungo Park 
wished to visit, would be drawn into it. The advice of 
the king to remain was prudent, and Park had soon 
reason enough to regret not having followed it. 
But, impatient to reach the interior, the traveller 
would not listen, and entered the level and sandy plains 
of Kaarta. He met crowds of natives on the journey 
who were flying to Kasson to escape the horrors of war. 
But even this did not deter him ; he continued his 
journey until he reached the capital of Kaarta, which is 
situated in a fertile and open plain. 
He was kindly received by the king, Daisy Kurabari, 
who endeavoured to dissuade him from entering Bam¬ 
bara, and, finding all his arguments useless, advised him 
to avoid passing through the midst of the fray, by enter¬ 
ing the kingdom of Ludamar, inhabited by Moors. From 
thence he could proceed to Bambara. 
During his journey Mungo Park noticed negroes 
who fed principally upon a sort of bread made from the 
berries of the lotus, which tasted not unlike ginger- 
