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.
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