At the moment of my arrival, the English government was preparing an expedition, under the direction of Major Peddie, for exploring the interior of Africa: when ready, it proceeded to Kakondy, a village situated on the Rio Nuñez. The major died on his arrival there. Captain Campbell, who assumed the command of the expedition, set out with his numerous caravan to cross the high mountains of Fouta-Diallon: in a few days he lost part of his beasts of burden and several men; he nevertheless determined to pursue his journey, but no sooner had he entered the territories of the almamy[1] of Fouta-Diallon than the expedition was detained by order of that sovereign. It was obliged to pay a heavy contribution to the almamy for permission to return by the way it had come, to recross rivers which it had passed with great difficulty, and to endure such persecutions that, to put an end to them and to render his march less embarrassing, the commander caused the dry goods to be burned, the muskets to be broken, and the gunpowder to be thrown into the river. On this disastrous return Captain Campbell and several of his officers ended their lives at the same place where Major Peddie died: they were interred at the same spot with him, at the foot of an orange tree, at the factory of Mr. Bethmann, an English merchant.
The rest of the troops of Captain Campbell’s expedition sailed for Sierra Leone.
Some time afterwards, a new expedition was formed, and the command of it given to Major Gray. The English spared neither trouble nor expense to render it still more imposing and more numerous than the first. To avoid the terrible almamy of Timbo, the travellers proceeded by water to the Gambia and sailed up the river. As soon as the expedition had landed, it traversed Oulli and Gabou, and at length arrived in Bondou; but the inhabitants of Bondou are like those of Fouta-Diallon, equally fanatic, and equally malevolent, and their king showed not less ill will towards the English. Upon pretext of some old debt or other contracted by the English government, he demanded such a quantity of goods that Major Gray was soon entirely stripped, and obliged, as will be seen hereafter, to send an officer to the Senegal to procure more, in the hope of obtaining a passage by means of them.
I was ignorant of these unpleasant circumstances when I heard of the English expedition; and not doubting that Major Gray, standing in need of hands, would eagerly accept the offer of my services, though I was a stranger to him, I determined to proceed by land to the Gambia. I set out from St. Louis, accompanied by two negroes who returned to Dakar, and took the road leading from Gandiolle to the peninsula of Cape Verd. We travelled on foot: I was then very young, and my companions were two vigorous walkers, so that I was obliged to run in order to keep up with them. I cannot express the fatigue I felt, under the oppressive heat, journeying over a burning and almost moving sand. If I could but have obtained a little fresh water to allay the thirst which consumed me!—none was to be found but at some distance from the sea; and we were obliged to keep near the beach, that we might have a more solid footing. My legs were covered with blisters, and I thought that I should have been knocked up before we reached Dakar: at length, however, we arrived at that village, where I made no stay, but immediately took a passage in a boat which conveyed me to Goree.
The torments which I had already endured led me to reflect on the still greater hardships to which I was about to expose myself: the persons who felt a friendship for me, and M. Gavol in particular, had not therefore much trouble to divert me from my design; and, to gratify in some measure my fondness for travel, that worthy officer procured me a gratuitous passage on board a merchantman which was sailing for Guadeloupe.
I arrived in that colony with some letters of recommendation, and obtained a petty appointment, which I held but for six months. My passion for travelling began to revive; the perusal of Mungo Park gave new strength to my projects; and lastly, my constitution, having withstood a residence of some length at the Senegal and in Guadeloupe, gave me hopes of this time executing them with success.
I sailed from Pointe-à-Pitre for Bordeaux, and thence returned to the Senegal. Arriving at St. Louis, at the conclusion of 1818, with scanty resources, for I had exceedingly diminished them by useless voyages, I was not to be deterred by any consideration: every thing seemed possible to my adventurous spirit, and chance seemed to second my designs.
M. Adrien Partarrieu, who had been sent by Major Gray to purchase at St. Louis the goods required by the King of Bondou, was preparing to rejoin the expedition. I called upon M. Partarrieu, and proposed to accompany him without salary or engagement of any kind for the moment. He replied that he could not promise me any thing for the future, but that I was at liberty to join him if I pleased. I had soon decided—happy to seize so favourable an opportunity of visiting unknown countries and participating in an expedition of discovery.
M. Partarrieu’s caravan was composed of sixty or seventy men both white and black, and thirty-two camels richly laden.
We set out, on the sixth of February, 1819, from Gandiolle, a village in the kingdom of Cayor, situated at a short distance from the Senegal. The damel, or king, whom our presents had rendered favourable to us, issued orders that we should be well treated; we met every where with an hospitable reception, and in several places the people carried their generosity so far as to subsist our whole company without accepting any remuneration. On reaching the frontiers of Cayor, we came to a desert which separates it from the country of the Yolofs. It is well known that formerly these two countries belonged to the same sovereign, who governed them with the title of boor, or emperor, and that the damel is only an independent vassal: we experienced the same kind reception from the subjects of the boor of Yolof.