Isaaco, The Guide, Exerted Himself Much, Endeavouring To Drive Six Of The Asses Through A Little Below Where The Party Crossed, As The Stream Was There Not So Deep.

He had reached the middle of the river, when a crocodile rose, seized him by the left thigh, and dragged him under water.

With wonderful presence of mind, however, he felt the head of the animal, and thrust his finger into its eye. The monster quitted its hold for a moment, but then seized his other thigh, and again pulled him under water. Isaaco again thrust his fingers into its eyes. This proved effectual. The crocodile rose to the surface, dashed about a while as if stupified, and then swam down the middle of the river. Isaaco landed on the other side, bleeding copiously. He was so much lacerated as for a time to be unfit for travelling; and as his guidance was indispensable to the party, they waited four days, to give his wounds time to heal.

On the 11th July they came to Keminoom, the strongest fortified town Park had seen in Africa, - whence they were very desirous to depart, as they found the inhabitants to be "thieves to a man," committing depredations upon the travellers with the greatest coolness and impudence, in which the King and his thirty sons formed accomplished models for the subjects to look up to. Here they were subjected to the most vexatious extortions, and a number of articles were stolen from the baggage. On the 14th they set out from this place, one of the king's sons on horseback with them as a protector; but had not got a gun-shot from the town, when a bag was stolen from one of the asses; Park and Martyn ran after the offender, and recovered the bag; but before they returned to the coffle, another had made off with a musket. About two miles from this town some of the asses fell down. Park rode forward to look out for an easier ascent. As he held his musket carelessly in his hand, two of the king's sons came up, one of whom begged Park to give him a pinch of snuff. Park turned round to assure him he had none; upon which the other stole behind him, snatched the musket from his hand, and ran off. Park sprang from his saddle with his sword drawn, and Mr. Anderson got within musket-shot of the thief, but was unwilling to fire on this scion of royalty. The thief escaped up the rocks, and when Park returned to his horse, he found that the other descendant of royalty had stolen his great-coat. Park complained to the king's son who accompanied them as guide; he told him that the best course would be for the people to fire upon the delinquents. The natives seeing their preparations hid themselves behind the rocks, and only occasionally peeped through the crevices. The sky became overcast with clouds, and before they were five miles from the town, a heavy tornado came on. During the rain, another of the royal family ran off with a musket and a pair of pistols, which a soldier had laid down while reloading his ass. As they halted for a little, the natives nearly drove off four of the asses. At length Park gave the soldiers directions to shoot every one who came near the baggage, and they cleared the difficult passes of the rocks by sunset, without sustaining any farther loss. During the 18th a great number of articles, and one of the asses, were stolen from the sick soldiers, who had scarcely strength to defend themselves; and one of the party not having come up, Park supposed, with too much probability, that he had been stripped and murdered. During that and the following day they had three tornados. So many of the beasts of burden had been stolen, that the men were obliged to carry part of the loads. Park himself put a knapsack on his back, and his horse had a heavy load of articles to bear.

They found great difficulty in crossing the banks of the Ba-Woolima, a narrow, rapid, and deep river, which was then much swollen by the rains, They first endeavoured to throw across trunks of trees, but these were carried away by the stream. They next attempted a raft; but after the logs had been cut, the sick people were not able to drag them to the water side. But the negroes who were with them constructed a bridge in the most ingenious manner. It was formed of two ranges of a number of upright forked sticks, of sufficient length. Across each of the ranges of forks were placed two trees tied together. These beams were then connected with cross sticks. To prevent this structure from being carried away by the current, two large trees, fastened together, were fixed to both banks, their roots being tied with ropes to the trees growing there; they were allowed to sink in the water, so that the current could not bear away the forks whose ends sloped down the stream, and the current itself kept in their places those whose roots slanted up the stream. Here another of the party died of fever.

On the 22d they came to Bangassi, a large fortified town; where the king gave them a bullock and two calabashes of sweet milk, receiving in return a number of presents. Nevertheless, he seemed somewhat suspicious, and questioned Park closely concerning the object of his journey. On parting, he offered Park the protection of his son as far as Sego, whither he intended to proceed in a few days; but Park was too anxious to reach the Niger, to submit to any delay. The health of the soldiers became still worse, one died, and another was left behind at Bangassi. They had not gone far from the town when four men lay down, and declared themselves unable to proceed.

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