Having made all the preparations necessary for the departure of those officers and men, they embarked on the 29th of September on board the fleet returning to St. Louis, the commandant of which, Mr. Le Blanc, received at his table Mr. Dochard. The vessels did not sail until the 30th: I accompanied them to Tuabo. On taking leave of my companions my feelings were such as I am unable to describe. I leave those who have themselves parted from friends whom they had every probability of never seeing more, to judge what mine must have been; suffice it to say, that my spirits for the remainder of that day were at their lowest ebb.
From that unpleasant state of mind I was awakened by the reflection that the step I had taken was the only one which offered any prospect of success. I took advantage of a boat going to Fort St. Joseph on the 5th of October, for the purpose of soliciting the interest of Samba Congole with Modiba King of Kaarta, for my passage through that country. Contrary winds and strong currents prevented my arriving there before the 8th, when having made known to Samba the object of my visit, and made him a small present, he assured me that I might depend on his forwarding my views in every way he could; he also agreed to send a party of horse to escort me from Baquelle, which place I purposed leaving in November. On my return to Baquelle, I found the French commandant, Mr. Hesse, in dispute with the Tonca of Tuabo, who having made some demands for customs, with which the former did not think right to comply, declared hostilities. Angry words and threats on both sides, however, were alone resorted to, and continued to the 18th, during which time I was busily employed in making preparations for our march. These being completed, on the 31st of October I despatched a messenger to demand the promised escort from Samba, whose brother arrived at Baquelle on the 6th of November, accompanied by four horsemen and ten foot. He informed me that having some business of his brother’s to transact at Tuabo, he could not be ready to return before three or four days.
Almamy Bondoo, who by some means got information of my intended movement, and supposing that we should proceed by water to Fort St. Joseph, posted a strong party at Yafrey to oppose our passage; thus proving that he had all along been determined to prevent our proceeding eastward. He was, however, misinformed, for although I intended (and did take advantage of a boat going to that place) to send all my baggage thither, I had determined on proceeding with the men and animals by a path on the north side of the river, where we should not meet any of the people of Bondoo, and few, if any, of any other tribes, as all the towns on that side had been either destroyed by the Kaartans, or deserted by their inhabitants. Almamy’s arrival with his army at Baquelle, prevented Dhyabê[29] from returning as soon as he otherwise would have done: I was therefore compelled to wait for him until the 16th, having sent off my baggage on the 9th.
We left Baquelle on the morning of the 17th, and travelled ESE. until six P.M. when we halted for the night, all much fatigued, at a pool of muddy water in the woods. The country over which we travelled was low and flat, much covered with wood, and bore the marks of the late inundation. We met several herds of wild hogs and antelopes, and saw the recent footmarks of the elephant and hippopotamus in the vicinity of the small creeks we crossed. The following morning we moved forward in the same direction until we came to the river, along the north bank of which we continued our march through deserted and ruined towns until three P.M., when we reached Goosela, a small walled town of Gidumagh, at which we halted for the night.
Goosela is one of a few Gidumagh towns which remain on the north bank of the Senegal, tributary to the Kaartans and Moors, and which makes itself very evident in the miserably wretched and poverty struck appearance of the inhabitants, whose numbers do not exceed one hundred and fifty. It is situate on an elevated spot about 500 yards from the river.
A march of two hours along the banks of the river brought us opposite Fort St. Joseph, on the morning of the 19th, at eight o’clock, when canoes having been provided by Samba Congole, we crossed without delay, and found our baggage safely deposited in a square mud building in his yard, where I was myself accommodated with quarters.
My first object was to despatch a messenger to Modiba, requesting that one of his confidential servants might be sent without delay to conduct us into that country. One of Samba’s brothers was selected for that service, and proceeded on the 1st of December with directions from Samba to make as little delay as possible.
Fotigue, the man whom I sent, in company with Isaacco’s brother, to Sego in August, arrived at Fort St. Joseph on the 3rd of December without having been able to proceed farther than Dhyage, in consequence of the inundated state of the country between Galam and Kasson. They lost every thing they had, in crossing one of the innumerable torrents which intersect that country during the rains, and where he, as well as his companions, must have perished had it not been for the timely and providential assistance rendered them by a canoe belonging to Safêrê, a prince of Kasson, which accidentally passed by the tree where they had been perched for two days without food or the prospect of release. He stated having seen a Moor at Dhyage who came from Sego, and informed him that at the time of his departure the men left there by Mr. Dochard were on the point of being despatched, in company with one of Dha’s people named Sitafa, to meet me.
The 1st of January 1821, now arrived, but without the appearance of the messenger: I was informed, however, by some native merchants who arrived from Kaarta, that he was on the point of leaving it.
On the 11th I witnessed at Dramanet an assembly of the chiefs of Upper Galam, on the occasion of nominating a new Tonca, and to regulate some matters relative to the then state of that country. I accompanied Samba Congole, who was attended by his brothers and the chiefs of Maghana and Magha-doo-goo.