such tremendous thunder as cannot possibly be conceived but by those who have heard it.

On the 6th of October, the waters of the Gambia were at the greatest height, being 15 feet above the high water-mark of the tide; after which they began to subside, at first slowly, but afterwards very rapidly, sometimes sinking more than a foot in four-and-twenty hours. By the beginning of November, the river had sunk to its former level, and the tide ebbedand flowed as usual. When the river had subsided, and the atmosphere grew dry, Mr. Park began speedily to recover from his indisposition, and arranged affairs for his departure: Dr. Laidley was at this time employed in a trading voyage to Jonkakonda. Mr. Park dispatched a letter to him, soliciting him to procure the protection of the first coffie (caravan) that might leave Gambia for the interior country; and, in the mean time, to purchase him a horse and two asses. Soon after, the doctor returned to Pisania, informing him, when the dry season commenced a caravan would certainly depart, but could not say at what time. Mr. Park resolved to wait, that he might prosecute his journey with safety. This resolution being formed, he took leave of his hospitable friend, and prepared for his journey to Pisania.

The natives of the country bordering on the Gambia, though distributed into many distinct governments, may be divided into four great classes. The Feloops, the Jaloff's, the Foulabs, and the Mandingoes. Among all these nations, the religion of Mahomet has made, and continues to make, considerable progress; but the body of the people still maintain the blind, but inoffensive, superstition of their ancestors, and are still stiled, by the Mahometans, caffres or infidels.

The Feloops are of a gloomy disposition, and are supposed never to forgive an injury: they are even said to transmit their quarrels as deadly feuds to their posterity; so that a son views it as incumbent upon him to revenge his deceased father's wrongs. If a man loses his life in one of those quarrels, which continually happen at their feasts, his son endeavours to procure his father's sandals, which he wears once a year, at the anniversary of his father's death, until a fit opportunity occurs

of revenging his fate, by sacrificing the object of his resentment. This fierce and cruel temper is, notwithstanding, counterbalanced by many good qualities. They possess gratitude and affection to their benefactors, and are singular in their fidelity in every trust committed to them.

The Jaloffs are an active, powerful, and warlike people; inheriting great part of the tract which lies between the river Senegal and the Mandingo states on the Gambia: yet they differ from the Mandingoes, not only in language, but likewise in complexion and features. The noses of the Jaloffs are not so much depressed, nor the lips so protuberant as among the generality of Africans; and, although their skin is of the deepest black, they are considered by the white traders as the handsomest negroes in this part of the continent. They are divided into several independent states or kingdoms, which are frequently at war, either with their neighbours or with each other. In their manners, superstitions, and form of government, they have a great resemblance to the Mandingoes, but excel them in their manufactures. Their language is copious and significant. The Foulahs (such of them as reside near the Gambia), are chiefly of a tawny complexion, with soft silky hair, and pleasing features. They are much attached to a pastoral life, and have introduced themselves into all the kingdoms on the windward coast as herdsmen and husbandmen, paying a tribute to the sovereign of the country for the lands which they hold. The Mandingoes constitute the bulk of the inhabitants of most of the districts of the interior of Africa. Their language is universally understood, and very generally spoken. They are called Mandingoes, having originally emigrated from the interior state of Manding; but, contrary to the present constitution of their parent country, which is republican, the government in all the Mandingo states, near the Gambia, is monarchical.

The Mandingoes are of a mild, sociable, and obliging disposition. The men are commonly above the middle size, well shaped, strong, and capable of enduring great labour; the women are good-natured, sprightly, and agreeable. The dress of both sexes is comprised of cotton cloth of their own manu

facture: that of the men is a loose frock, not unlike a surplice, with drawers which reach down half the legs; they wear sandals on their feet, and white cotton caps on their heads. The women's dress consists of two pieces of cloth, each of which is about six feet long and three broad; one of these they wrap round the waist, which, hanging down to the ancles, answers the purpose of a petticoat; the other is thrown negligently over the bosom and shoulders. The head dress of the African women is diversified in different countries.

In the construction of their dwelling-houses, the Mandingoes also conform to the general practice of the African nations on this part of the continent; contenting themselves with small and incommodious hovels. A circular mud wall, about four feet high, above which is placed a conical roof, composed of the bamboo cane, and thatched with grass, forms alike the palace of the king and the hovel of the slave. Their household furniture is equally simple: a hurdle of canes placed upon upright stakes, about two feet from the ground, upon which is spread a mat or bullock's hide, constitutes their bed; a water-jar, some earthen pots for dressing food, a few wooden bowls and calabashes, with one or two low stools, compose the rest of the furniture. The Africans practise polygamy, and to prevent matrimonial disputes, each of the ladies is accommodated with a hut to herself; and all the huts belonging to the same family are surrounded with a fence, constructed of. bamboo canes, split and formed into a sort of wicker work. The whole inclosure is called a surk; a number of these inclosures, with passages between them, form what is called a town; but the huts are generally placed without regularity, according to the caprice of the owner; the only rule attended to, is placing the door towards the south-west, in order to admit the sea-breeze. The Mandingo master cannot deprive his slave of life, nor sell him to a stranger, without first calling a palaver on his conduct, or bringing him to a public trial. Captives taken in war, and those condemned to slavery for crimes or insolvency, have no security whatever, but may be treated and disposed of in all respects as the owner thinks proper. It sometimes happens, when no ships are on the coast,

that a humane and considerate master incorporates his purchased slaves among his servants, and their offspring becomes entitled to all the privileges of nature.

On the river Gambia, iron, from its great utility, is considered the medium of exchange. For instance, 20 leaves of tobacco were considered as a bar of tobacco, and a gallon of spirits as a bar of rum; a bar of one commodity being reckoned equal in value to a bar of another commodity; but, at present, the current value of a single bar of any kind, is fixed by the whites at two shillings sterling.

On the 2d of December, 1795, Mr. Park left the hospitable mansion of Dr. Laidley, and set of for Pisania, attended by a negro servant, named Johnson, who spoke both the English and Mandingo tongue, and a negro boy of Dr. Laidley's, named Demba, a sprightly youth, who, beside the Mandingo, was acquainted with the Serawoolli nation. He was furnished with a horse, and two asses for his interpreter and servant; his baggage was light, consisting chiefly of provisions for two days, a small assortment of beads, amber, and tobacco; a few changes of linen, an umbrella, pocket sextant, magnetic compass, thermometer, two fowling-pieces, two pair of pistols, and other small articles. A free native, named Madibou, who was travelling to the kingdom of Bambara, and two slatees, or slave-merchants, of the Serawoolli nation, accompanied him as far as their journey extended, as did likewise a negro named Tami, a native of Kasson, who had been blacksmith to Dr. Laidley. All these men travelled on foot, driving their asses before them. Dr. Laidley himself, and Messrs. Ainsleys, with a number of their domestics, determined to accompany him the two first days. They reached Jindey the same day, and rested at the house of a black woman, who had formerly been the chere amie of a white trader, named Hewet, and who was distinguished by the title of seniora. Mr. Park visited an adjoining village belonging to a slatee, named Jemaffoo Mamadoo, the richest of all the Gambia traders; he was so much pleased with this visit, that he presented him with a fine bullock, which was immediately killed, and part of it dressed the same evening. The negroes do not sit down to supper until

late; and while the evening repast was preparing, a Mandinge amused Mr. Park and his company, by relating the following history:---

The inhabitants of Doomasansa were much annoyed by a lion, that came every night, and made considerable depredations among the cattle. To put a stop to the ravages of this fierce animal, a party resolved to go and hunt the lion; they proceeded in search of him, and found him concealed in a thicket, and, firing upon him, they levelled him with the ground, after springing from his place of concealment. The animal, notwithstanding, appeared so ferocious, that no one dared to attack him singly, and a conference was held on the means of securing him alive. An old man proposed the following expedient: To take the thatch from the roof of a house, and to carry the bamboo frame (the pieces of which are well secured together by thongs), and throw it over the lion. If, in approaching him, he should attempt to spring upon them, they had nothing to do but to let down the roof upon themselves, and fire at the lion through the rafters. This proposal was agreed to; the thatch was taken from the roof of a hut, and the lion-hunters, supporting the fabric, marched courageously to meet the animal; but the lion was so formidable in his appearance, that they provided for their own safety by covering themselves with the roof. Unfortunately the lion was too nimble for them; for while the roof was setting down, both the beast and his pursuers were secured in the same cage, and the lion devoured them at his leisure, to the great astonishment and mortification of the inhabitants of Doomasansa; hence nothing can enrage an inhabitant of that town so much as desiring him to catch a lion alive.'

On the 3d of December, Mr. Park took leave of Dr. Laidley and Messrs. Ainsleys, and rode slowly into the woods. In the midst of a boundless forest, while reflecting on the danger of his situation, he was stopped by a body of people, who told him he must go with them to Peckaba, to the king of Walli, or pay customs to them. Mr. Park thought it prudent to comply: and presenting them with four bars of tobacco for the king's use, he continued until he arrived at a village near