der the command of Lieutenant Martyn
of the Royal Artillery Corps were selected, as well as two sailors from
the "Squirrel" frigate.

They left Goree on the 6th of April, the men jumping into the boats in
the highest spirits, and bidding adieu to their friends with repeated
huzzas.

Landing at Kayee on the northern bank of the Gambia, they commenced
their overland journey to Pisania on the 27th of April. The weather was
intensely hot, and the asses, unaccustomed to carry loads, made their
march very fatiguing and troublesome, three of the animals sticking fast
in a muddy rice field soon after they started.

So many delays had occurred that the rainy season was already
approaching, and it would have been more prudent had the expedition
remained at Goree or Pisania till the country had become again suitable
for travelling. It was just possible, however, that they might reach
the Niger before the middle of June, when the rainy season usually
commences, and that river could then have been navigated without much
exposure or toil. So eager, however, was Mr Park to proceed, that he
disregarded the warnings of his friends, and determined to set forth on
his journey.

Several days were lost at Pisania in arranging the burdens of the asses
and in purchasing more animals, as those they possessed were not
sufficient for carrying all the loads.

He here engaged a Mandingo priest named Isaaco, who was also a
travelling merchant, to serve as a guide, and, on the 4th of May, all
being ready, the caravan set forth from Pisania, whence nearly ten years
before Park had commenced his adventurous journey into the interior.

The arrangements for the march were well devised. The animals as well
as their loads were marked and numbered with red paint, and a certain
number allotted to the care of each of the six messes into which the
soldiers were divided. Mr Scott and Isaaco generally led, Lieutenant
Martyn marched in the centre, and Anderson and Park brought up the rear.

All their forethought, however, could not guard them against the deadly
attacks of the climate. The asses from the first gave them a great deal
of trouble--many, from being overloaded, lying down in the road, while
others kicked off their bundles--so that the caravan made but slow
progress.

They had not gone far when two of the soldiers died, and, a few days
afterwards, another lost his life.

At most of the places through which they passed they were well re