In this state of continued procrastination from day to day, under some pretence or other, was I delayed till the 14th, when Giboodoo, whom I had sent to the capital with a farther addition to the present, returned to say that the king had at length consented to my proceeding, and would send, in a few days, some people belonging to Bangassi to accompany me to that place, but complained of my not having sent him the parting present. This I immediately complied with, adding a few small articles for the head slaves.
For some days previous to that date, great preparations were making for the departure of an expedition into some of the neighbouring states. Bojar and his brothers had proceeded to the capital at the head of their several divisions, and nothing was to be seen but armed parties hastening from all quarters to the general rendezvous. Ali (the prince before mentioned as a friend of Samba’s), on passing through Monia, at the head of his division, which consisted of about six hundred horse and one thousand foot, all armed with muskets, called at my hut to return thanks for the present I had given him; and to say, that on his arrival at Dhyage, he would strongly urge Modiba to terminate my business favourably, which, he assured me, was all along his intention, although he had been advised to the contrary. I replied, that such might have been the case, but I doubted it; and therefore desired Ali to tell his uncle, that I relied with confidence on his fulfilling the promise made me by Garran, in his name, when he first saw me at Galam, and which alone could have induced me to come into his country.
Giboodoo returned from the capital on the 18th, and said that the Bangassi people were to leave it the following day, and that Modiba had appointed Bokari to accompany me as far as Badoogoo. This was all I wanted; and although I had been much longer detained than I could have wished, I nevertheless forgot all my disappointments in the prospect of once more moving eastward.
The Bangassi people did not arrive until the 20th. They were introduced to me by the maraboo, who said that Modiba, in handing me over to those people, desired him to state, that his reason for having detained me so long originated in nothing but a wish to send me forward in safety, and which the preparations he had been making for the war, prevented his doing sooner, and begged me to believe that his most sincere good wishes followed me.
It was my intention to have proceeded on the 21st, but that being on a Saturday, which as well as Sunday is looked on by the Kaartans as an unlucky day to commence a journey eastward, I could not prevail on either the Bangassi people or the guide to move until Monday, when we left Moonia and travelled ESE. over a well cultivated and thickly inhabited country for three hours, which brought us to the foot of a rocky precipice, extending as far as the eye could reach in a north-east and south-west direction. The path by which we ascended it, was narrow and steep, and so much intercepted with huge fragments of broken rocks that we found it necessary to unload the asses before they could pass. The summit presented an extensive plain sloping gently to the east and south-east, bounded in all directions by high distant hills, and thinly covered with stunted under-wood. The path which led to the SSE. lay over a barren soil composed, for the most part, of a slate-like stone, in diagonal strata, resembling in point of colour the slates of North Wales. The sun having set we were soon enveloped in darkness. We however continued marching, or rather groping our way, in the same direction until nine o’clock, when we reached a small walled town under some lofty hills, round the base of which the path turned to the SSW., and soon brought us to Sanjarra, where we halted for the night with the intention of moving forward the next evening, but were prevented from doing so, in consequence of the guides having reported the distance to the next town as being too great, and the path which led over the mountains too difficult to admit of our reaching it that night; and as, from the want of water on the mountains, it would be dangerous to halt there during the heat of the day, we decided on leaving Sanjarra at two o’clock the next afternoon, by which means we should be enabled to pass all the difficult places before dark; and having filled our soofras, halt until the moon should rise the following morning. More difficulties, however, were at hand: for on the 25th, we had but just commenced loading the animals, when Garran came to tell me that a messenger had arrived from Dhyage with orders from Modiba, that I should halt at Sanjarra until I again heard from him. My surprise and disappointment at this unexpected arrest, were greater than I had before experienced; for I really thought all was arranged to the king’s satisfaction, and I was so convinced that a short time would enable me to feast my eyes with a view of the Niger, that I had entirely given away to the pleasing delusion, the removal of which completely electrified me; but, as I must have submitted, I did so with an apparent good grace.
The messenger could (or most probably would) not give me any information on the cause of such treatment; and as it was uncertain when Modiba might again condescend to favour me with farther communication on the subject, I despatched Giboodoo (who accompanied me to Sanjarra) to ascertain, if possible, what could give rise to such repeated hindrances, and to inform his Majesty that after what his maraboo had told me at Moonia I was the more surprised and displeased at the present detention.
He returned the following evening (the 26th), and reported having found much difficulty in obtaining an interview with Modiba, who accused him, in common with me, of having deceived him by not giving him his share of an ass-load of silver, which, he said, he had been assured by good authority I had with me; and until I would do so, I must remain where I was; desiring me to consider his having given me permission to proceed as a very great obligation, for in doing so he was giving assistance to his enemies, the people of Bambarra (Sego), who (although he had acted otherwise) would most probably treat me as they had Mr. Dochard.
This was an obstacle to be surmounted which was utterly out of my power, at least to the extent Modiba demanded: a few dollars[31] were all the silver I had; but to convince him that was difficult in the extreme, if not impossible.—I however delivered to Giboodoo some other articles, which (if not what he demanded) would at least convince him that as far as my means went I was willing to please him, and directed Giboodoo to say, that the ass-load supposed by the informant to be silver, from its great weight and small size, was our ammunition, and which I would readily submit to the inspection of any person he pleased. He did not return before the 29th at night, when, instead of bringing any satisfactory answer, he said that it was useless for me to think of proceeding farther, as Modiba, although he did not positively say I should not go on, expressed his opinion that my doing so could not be attended with any good, and therefore strongly advised my return, but directed Giboodoo to ascertain my decision and return immediately to acquaint him therewith. I began to suspect that this man was deceiving me, and therefore sent with him on this occasion two of my own coloured men, who spoke and understood the Bambarra language, to be present at any interview he might have with either Modiba or the chief slaves, for whom I again sent small presents. The 2d of April brought them back with as little prospect of success as before: they did not even see Modiba, but were told by one of the head slaves that he was very much displeased with Giboodoo for bringing white men to his town. In vain did they shew their colour, and state that they were natives of the interior of Africa, the one a Joloff and the other a Jallonkey: they were told Modiba would not see either them or Giboodoo, and would send his maraboo, who would make known to me his will and pleasure.
This man arrived on the 3d, and informed me that the king consented to my going forward, but could not protect me any further than his own frontier, from whence I was to consider myself under the care and guidance of the Bangassi prince. I complained of this breach of the promise made me at Moonia, to which the maraboo only answered by telling me his only business was to repeat to me Modiba’s orders. The Bangassi prince was present and requested that, as he had not any of his own men with him, orders might be given to Bokari to collect fifteen or twenty at the frontier and with them escort us to Bangassi: to this the maraboo consented, and having received a small present for himself and one for his master, departed, assuring me that I should not meet with any more opposition in Kaarta—but of this I had my doubts.
We moved forward at half after three on the evening of the 4th to the ENE., along the foot of the mountains which enclose the valley of Sanjarra on the south and east, and at half after five entered a gully or ravine formed by those mountains: this led us to the SSE. along the then dry bed of a considerable torrent for an hour, when we arrived at the junction of two mountains, where an extremely steep and rugged path was to be ascended, and which we with much difficulty and fatigue effected within an hour: it was without exception the most difficult path I had ever travelled. The mountains, notwithstanding their apparent sterility, are covered with shrubs, and in some places present the most wildly grotesque appearance: strata of a kind of slate, shew themselves in the ravine, the bottom of which is covered with large stones, which from their circular form appear to have been rolled along by the force of the torrents. We had scarcely reached the summit when it became dark, and bore every appearance of approaching rain, which obliged us to halt for the night in the woods.