On the morning of the 9th, Abdul Hamed informed Captain Campbell it was Almamy’s orders, that a white man should be sent on in advance to Teembo, to explain to him the object we had in view in entering his dominions, and at the same time forbidding our nearer approach until he should be perfectly satisfied on that subject. I took the opportunity of offering my services to go with an interpreter, to make any arrangements with that chief which might be thought necessary, but Captain Campbell did not conceive it requisite to send an officer; and, therefore, despatched one of our native serjeants[2], who had been before employed by the governor of Sierra Leone on similar occasions. He left us on the 10th of February, and was accompanied by Abou Baccary, one of the princes in Abdul Hamed’s train. In the evening, the animals and baggage were removed across the Tingalinta, which, at that place is about 110 feet wide and from two to three deep, with a bottom of small round pebbles. At a little distance below the ford was a swinging bridge, composed of cane and bark ropes, by which it was attached, at about twenty-four feet above the water, to the branches of the trees which grew on the banks, and afforded during the rainy season and periodical floods, a safe, though apparently slight and tottering, passage for people on foot. [Illustration: W. Gray del. SWINGING BRIDGE OVER THE TINGALINTA. _Published Feb. 1825. by John Murray, London._] We were in motion at three o’clock on the morning of the 12th, but the Kakundy people, who had been hired as carriers, refused to cross the Tingalinta, assigning as a reason that they were afraid of being seized, and retained as slaves by the Footas, who had some years before obliged them to quit that country, which formerly belonged to themselves. This delayed us a considerable time, and it was not until eleven o’clock that we left the ground on which we passed the night. The path by which we travelled was so extremely rugged and broken, that we had much labour and difficulty in keeping the animals from lying down under their loads. This arose from their not being shod, and from never having travelled on so hard a soil before; that in the vicinity of Senegal and Goree being a light moveable sand. On reaching a place where the path separates, one branch leading direct to Teembo, and the other to Laby, a halt was made until Captain Campbell came up, when, after some conversation between him and Abdul Hamed, he ordered us to follow that leading to Laby, in opposition to the advice of the prince. The reason assigned by Captain Campbell for his choice, was the expectation of the assistance of the chief of Laby, who had considerable power and influence in that quarter. At one, P.M. we passed a small stream[3] running north, and which, from the steep, rocky, and narrow nature of the path leading to and from its banks, occupied much time. At six, the rear reached the halting-place, which was situate on