Description of Boolibany — Delays and Disappointments there — Scarcity of Provisions — Death of Private Pickard — My decision of passing the rains in the Country, and Departure for Samba Contaye to select a position for winter quarters — Arrival of the Expedition from Boolibany — Mr. Pilkington and men left there sick — Death of Lieutenant Burton, and Sickness of the Men — Preparations for Mr. Dochard’s Departure for Sego — Almamy’s Arrival near our Camp — Difficulties about the Guide — Mr. Dochard’s Departure — The Object of his Embassy — Mr. Partarrieau’s Departure for the Coast — Mr. Nelson’s weak state — A regular Market established — Mr. Pilkington’s Arrival from the Capital — Mr. Nelson’s Death — My own Indisposition — Deaths amongst the Men — Extraordinary Ceremony at the killing of a lioness — Lions’ Attack on the Horse — Accounts from Mr. Dochard — Return of the Messengers — Almamy’s unjust Conduct, and its Results. Boolibany, the Capital of Bondoo, stands in an extensive plain at the foot of a range of rocky hills, which are distant from it about a quarter of a mile east: to the west, the dry bed of a considerable torrent winds along the plain, and, in the season of the rains, conducts the water, which descends in a thousand streams from the hills, to the Falune and Senegal. Here is the residence of the king, or Almamy, but it is by no means so large a town as we expected to see in the capital of so thickly inhabited a country. The number of souls do not exceed fifteen or eighteen hundred; the greater number are either the relatives, slaves, tradesmen, or followers of Almamy, or those of the royal family. [Illustration: W. Gray del. BOOLEBANY, CAPITAL OF BONDOO. _Published Feb. 1825. by John Murray, London._] The town is surrounded by a strong clay wall, ten feet high and eighteen inches thick[11]; this is pierced with loop-holes, and is so constructed that, at short intervals, projecting angles are thrown out, which enable the besieged to defend the front of the wall by a flanking fire, and answers all the purposes of defence where nothing but small arms is made use of. The gates, of which there are five, and some of the intermediate parts of the wall, are surmounted by small embattled turrets, nine or ten feet square; those are likewise pierced with loop-holes, and give to the place a better fortified appearance than any town we had before seen. Within these outer walls, at the west end of the town, and surrounded by stronger and higher ones of the same materials and form, are the palaces of Almamy, his son Saada, and his nephew Moosa Yoro Malick, all joining each other, but having no internal communication.