[Footnote 1: Now Lieutenant Colonel Lloyd.] CHAPTER III. _An Excursion to the Main Land.--Visit to King Marraboo.--Anecdotes of this Chief.--Another Excursion, accompanied by Mr. Hamilton.--A shooting Party, accompanied by Marraboo's Son, Alexander, and other Chiefs.--Reflections upon Information obtained from them, relative to this Part of the Coast, and at Goree.--Embark in his Majesty's Sloop of War, the Eugenie, which convoyed Mr. Mungo Park in the Brig Crescent, to the River Gambia, on his late Mission to the Interior of Africa.--Observations on that Subject.--Arrive in Porto Praya Bay, in the Island of St. Jago.--Some Remarks upon that Island.--Departure from thence to England, and safe arrival at Portsmouth._ A few days after the arrival of the Lark at the island of Goree, accompanied by a party of the officers of that ship, I made an excursion upon the main land: we set out from the ship early in the morning, for Decar, the capital of a chief or king, named Marraboo: we arrived before he had moved abroad, and, after going through winding narrow paths or streets, we were conducted by one of his people to his palace, a wretched hovel, built with mud, and thatched with bamboo. In our way to this miserable habitation of royalty, a confused sound of voices issued forth from almost every hut we passed, which originated from their inhabitants vociferating their morning orisons to Allah and Mahomet; their religion being an heterogeneous system of Mahomedanism, associated with superstitious idolatry, incantations, and charms.