be procured.
The caravan therefore travelled rapidly till they arrived at Koojar, the
frontier town of Woolli, on the road to Bondou, from which it is
separated by another intervening wilderness of two days' journey.

While crossing the desert, they came to a tree, adorned with scraps of
cloth, probably at first hung up to inform other travellers that water
was to be found near it; but the custom has been so sanctioned by time
that nobody presumes to pass without hanging up something. Park
followed the example and suspended a handsome piece of cloth on one of
the boughs. Finding, however, a fire, which the negroes thought had
been made by banditti, they pushed on to another watering-place, where,
surrounded by their cattle, they lay down on the bare ground, out of
gun-shot from the nearest bush, the negroes agreeing to keep watch by
turns, to prevent surprise.

They soon after reached Koorkarany, a Mahommedan town, which contained a
mosque, and was surrounded by a high wall. The _maraboo_, or priest, a
black, showed Park a number of Arabic manuscripts, passages from which
he read and explained in Mandingo.

Moving on at noon of the 21st of December, the traveller...

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His fellow-travellers considered it necessary to journey by night till
they could reach a more hospitable part of the country. They
accordingly started as soon as the people in the village had gone to
sleep. The stillness of the air, the howling of the wild beasts and the
deep solitude of the forest made the scene solemn and impressive. Not a
word, except in a whisper, was uttered; and his companions pointed out
to him the wolves and hyaenas, as they glided like shadows from one
thicket to another.

The inhabitants of Bondou are called Foulahs. They are naturally of a
mild and gentle disposition; but the uncharitable maxims of the Koran
have made them less hospitable to strangers and more reserved in their
behaviour than the Mandingoes.

Leaving Bondou, the caravan entered the kingdom of Kajaaga. The
inhabitants, whose complexion is jet-black, are called Serrawoollies.
The _dooty_, or chief man of Joag, the frontier town, though a rigid
Mahommedan, treated Park very civilly; but while he was staying there a
party of horseman, sent by the king, arrived to conduct him to Maana,
his residence. When there, the king demanded enormous duties, and Park
had t