We left Robugga in the afternoon of the 1st of February, and after a most fatiguing march of four hours reached Harrimakona, a small slave village belonging to a Mandingo chief, named Kirra Mahomadoo, who lives near Kakundy.
On the morning of the 2d, Lieutenant Stokoe was added to the sick list, and being unable to render any assistance, rode forward to the Tingalinta. We left Harrimakona at two, P.M. and got on tolerably well until we arrived at a difficult pass in a wood, where those in front disturbed a swarm of bees, which made so violent an attack on both men and animals, that all were thrown into confusion. On my being made acquainted with the cause, I considered it a very frivolous excuse for allowing the horses and asses to run about in all directions, throwing off their loads; and was reprimanding the men for their carelessness, when I was attacked by so dense a swarm of those insects, that I was obliged to retreat, and suffer the mortification of exhibiting myself in the same predicament with those I had just been reproving. It was sunset before the bees dispersed, or we could collect the animals, many of whom suffered severely, from the bees getting into their eyes, ears, and nostrils; one of our best horses died on the spot, and some of the asses were unable to rise from the ground. We reached the Changêballê stream at nine o’clock, but the darkness of the night, and the difficulty of the passage prevented our crossing.
From the number of animals stung by the bees on the 2d, we were in a bad state for travelling on the morning of the 3rd; the third and fourth divisions, however, moved forward to the Tingalinta, leaving the second and first, which arrived about noon from Robugga, at the Changêballê, where we found it necessary to halt, until the arrival of some animals from the divisions in advance enabled us to move, in the cool of the evening, to the Pompo stream, where we passed the night.
The following morning, we started at eight, and at ten reached a fine stream, the Falgori, which we were more than an hour in crossing. The difficulty did not arise from the depth of water, but from the acclivity of the hill on the east bank, up which some of the animals could not carry their loads without the assistance of two men. After passing this hill we entered a barren rocky waste, over which we travelled, for nearly twelve miles, without meeting water.
We were here met by Mahomedoo Mariama, a messenger sent by Major Peddie from Senegal in the preceding August, with a letter to the Almamy or king of Teembo. He was accompanied by Abdul Hamed, one of Almamy’s brothers, and three other chiefs, with their wives and attendants. We reached the Tingalinta village at four, P.M. and encamped for the night on the east side of a hill overlooking the river. The men were all extremely fatigued, and, although we had only travelled thirty miles, we had all had four days’ hard work, in consequence of the difficulties of the path, and the accidents among our animals. The general appearance of the country we travelled over was extremely barren, and our course south-east. We found that the convalescents sent forward to the Tingalinta with Mr. Nelson, were still in a very weak state, and the scarcity of rice under which we laboured, tended to keep them so. We were in hourly expectation, however, of a supply from Kakundy. A little milk was all we could procure at the village which takes its name from the river, and contains about 100 inhabitants, principally slaves, belonging to Mr. Pearce, who has allowed them to settle there for the purpose of cultivation, and to keep up an intercourse with Foota Jallon. The rice, to the amount of ten men’s loads [ten cwts.], arrived on the 8th, and eight of those men, natives of the neighbourhood of Kakundy, were engaged to carry loads to Laby.
On the morning of the 9th, Abdul Hamed informed Captain Campbell it was Almamy’s orders, that a white man should be sent on in advance to Teembo, to explain to him the object we had in view in entering his dominions, and at the same time forbidding our nearer approach until he should be perfectly satisfied on that subject. I took the opportunity of offering my services to go with an interpreter, to make any arrangements with that chief which might be thought necessary, but Captain Campbell did not conceive it requisite to send an officer; and, therefore, despatched one of our native serjeants[2], who had been before employed by the governor of Sierra Leone on similar occasions. He left us on the 10th of February, and was accompanied by Abou Baccary, one of the princes in Abdul Hamed’s train.
In the evening, the animals and baggage were removed across the Tingalinta, which, at that place is about 110 feet wide and from two to three deep, with a bottom of small round pebbles. At a little distance below the ford was a swinging bridge, composed of cane and bark ropes, by which it was attached, at about twenty-four feet above the water, to the branches of the trees which grew on the banks, and afforded during the rainy season and periodical floods, a safe, though apparently slight and tottering, passage for people on foot.
W. Gray del.
SWINGING BRIDGE OVER THE TINGALINTA.