We commenced our retreat at half after five, on the morning of the 8th of May, and at eleven reached Guninghedy, where we halted during the heat of the day. We were accompanied by Bojar and his division, with their prisoners, whose sufferings presented scenes of distress which I am incapable of painting in their true colours. The women and children (all nearly naked and carrying heavy loads) were tied together by the necks, and hurried along over a rough stony path that cut their feet in a dreadful manner. There were a great number of children, who, from their tender years, were unable to walk, and were carried, some on the prisoners’ backs, and others on horseback behind their captors, who, to prevent them falling off, tied them to the back part of the saddle with a rope made from the bark of the baobab, which was so hard and rough that it cut the back and sides of the poor little innocent babes so as to draw the blood. This however, was only a secondary state of the sufferings endured by those children, when compared to the dreadfully blistered and chafed state of their seats, from constant jolting on the bare back of the horse, seldom going slower than a trot or smart amble, and not unfrequently driven at full speed for a few yards, and pulled up short. On these occasions it was to me a matter of astonishment how the child could support the strokes it must have received from the back of the saddle, which, from its form, came in contact with the child’s stomach. [Illustration] We reached Sanjarra the following morning at half after nine, and in the afternoon was joined by Giboodoo, who had been at Dhyaje; he told me that Modiba desired him to say he was sorry the present state of the country would not admit of my passing Kaarta, but was glad I had returned with Bojar, thereby preventing the necessity he should otherwise have been under of sending a detachment after me, for the purpose of bringing me back. I was also met at Sanjarra by a messenger from Ali, to say, that having heard something at Dhyaje, with respect to Modiba’s intentions towards me, he advised my moving without delay to his town, where I might remain in safety until the king should send people to re-conduct me to Galam. I did not believe this; supposing that his object was, in thus apparently protecting me, to lay me under obligations, from which I should be obliged to release myself by means of presents. I nevertheless followed his advice, because my most direct path led there, and I was not altogether so satisfied with Bojar’s treatment while at his town, to induce me to return.