Having safely reached the frontiers of the Woolli dominions, Park dismissed his guide; and being about to enter a country interspersed with deserts, in which water is frequently not to be procured, he hired three negroes, experienced elephant-hunters, who were at once to serve as guides and water-bearers. While he was preparing to depart, however, one of these negroes, who had all received a part of their pay in advance, made his escape; and lest the remaining two should be disposed to follow his example, he immediately gave orders to fill their calabashes, or gourds, with water, and struck off into the wilderness, just as the sun was appearing above the horizon. Through this desert they proceeded until they reached Tallika, the frontier town of Bondou towards Woolli, where Park engaged a kind of custom-house officer to accompany him for a trifling present to Fatteconda, the residence of the king. In his company our traveller accordingly performed the journey to that city. On his arrival at Fatteconda he was received by the black chief with much apparent kindness, though Major Houghton, he had heard, in his passage through the country, had been both insulted and plundered by this same man. However, he soon discovered that the manifestations of a hospitable disposition observable in the king’s manner was not deceptive. It is true he was so completely captivated by our traveller’s best blue coat and gilt buttons, that he could not resist the temptation to beg it; but he endeavoured in some measure to remunerate him for the loss by a present of five drachms of gold, and by altogether abstaining from examining his baggage, or exacting any other present than what was voluntarily bestowed.