Descending from thence towards Bambakoo, the travellers pitched their tents under a tree near that town.
Of the thirty-four soldiers and four carpenters who left the Gambia, only six soldiers and one carpenter reached the Niger, three having died during the previous day’s march.
As the only canoe Park could obtain would carry but two persons besides their goods, he and Mr Anderson embarked in it, leaving Mr Martyn and the men to come down by land with the asses. He himself was suffering greatly from dysentery. In the evening they landed on some flat rocks near the shore, and were cooking their supper, when the rain came down, and continued with great violence all night.
The next day Mr Martyn and the rest of the people overtook them.
On the following day Isaaco, having performed the task he had undertaken, of guiding them to the Niger, received the payment agreed on; and Park likewise gave him several articles, and told him that when the palaver was adjusted at Sego, he should have all the horses and asses for his trouble.
He here also prepared the present he purposed to offer to Mansong, the king of Bambarra, and which he sent forward to Sego by Isaaco.
Every day brought them some unfavourable news or other. At one time it was reported that Mansong had killed Isaaco with his own hand, and threatened to do the same with all the whites who should come into Bambarra. These reports proved to be false, for Isaaco himself arrived in a canoe from Sego, bringing back all the articles sent to Mansong, who had directed that they should be taken up to Samee, and that he would send a person to receive them from Park’s own hands. Mansong had promised that the expedition should pass, but whenever Isaaco mentioned it particularly, or related any incident that had happened on the journey, Mansong began to make squares and triangles in the sand before him with his finger, and continued to do so as long as Isaaco spoke about them. This the superstitious monarch probably did to defend himself against the supposed incantations of the white man.
On the 22nd of September the chief counsellor of Mansong, Modibinne, and four grandees, arrived by a canoe, bringing a fat milk-white bullock as a present. Next morning Modibinne and the grandees came to the camp and desired Park to acquaint them with the motives which had induced him to come into their country. Park explained them, telling them that it was his wish to sail down the Joliba, or Niger, to the place where it mixes with the salt water, and that if the navigation was found open, the white men would send up vessels to trade at Sego, should Mansong wish it. Modibinne replied that the object of the journey was a good one, and prayed that God would prosper it, adding, “Mansong will protect you.”
The presents intended for the king were then spread out, and appeared to give great satisfaction. Two more soldiers died that evening. On the 26th the expedition, in open canoes, left Samee. Park felt himself very unwell, and the heat was intense, sufficient to have roasted a sirloin. Isaaco, however, having formed an awning over the canoe with four sticks and a couple of cloaks, Park found himself better.
On the 2nd two other privates died, the body of one of whom the wolves carried off, the door of the hut having been left open.