When loading the animals the following morning, Macca sent one of his satellites to say that as he was ill and could not accompany us if we moved; he requested us to remain at Bokey Guiley until the following morning. As I was aware that this was an excuse dictated by Amady Samba to detain us, so I refused to comply, and, having sent Mr. Partarrieau to urge Macca’s coming on, we moved forward at seven o’clock, but had not proceeded above a mile when one of the men who accompanied Mr. Partarrieau came running in a great hurry to let me know that the people of the village, at the instigation of our guides, seemed inclined to oppose his following the caravan. I immediately selected one sergeant and fifteen men, and had proceeded about a quarter of a mile towards the village, when I met the guides and Amady Samba, (and, in a few minutes after, Mr. Partarrieau,) who informed me that many objections were made to his joining me, in accomplishing which he had nearly come to blows with the guides and villagers. Shortly after this, a large bullock which had been bought at Gari-Eli, and conducted since it left that place by a Foolah hired for the purpose, having nearly killed one of our men, was ordered to be shot, which was not effected until many shots had been fired at him. This circumstance so trivial in itself was nearly the cause of very serious consequences, as the men of the villages in the vicinity of our road heard the shots, and, knowing that we had nearly fought with our guides in the morning, thought that such was then actually the case, and came running up from all quarters ready for action,—which they were with difficulty prevented from commencing by the intercession of Macca. Many of them, however, accompanied us to Dindoody, where we arrived at noon, having travelled ten miles NNE. Although the day was excessively hot, and both men and animals were much in want of water, we were obliged to endure the privation, having a well within a few yards of our bivouac; but this we were not allowed to touch before seven o’clock in the evening, and, having paid dearly for the indulgence, we found also, on returning from the well to tie up the asses for the night, that two of them had been stolen. Macca promised to have them restored, but we never saw them afterwards. It appeared to me that our guides were at the bottom of all this hindrance from water and objections to the path, in which the inhabitants of all the towns we passed through joined them, (but particularly those of Dindoody, where we spent the whole of the 30th in palaver with them), I conceived it better to make them a large present[22] to induce their acting in compliance with our wishes, to which they consented, binding themselves by an oath on the Koran, to which, although little regard had been paid by Almamy, I trusted, however, that they would remain faithful.