This Was Only A Sample Of The Numerous Extortions
To Which They Were Exposed; And As The Natives Annoyed Them
Much,
conceiving that they carried merchandise of great value, the utmost
vigilance was necessary to guard against their sly pilferings,
As well as
the more violent attempts of the numerous bands of robbers who infested
the neighbourhood. They reached Kanipe, a straggling village, on the 13th
of May. Here the women had fallen upon an ingenious plan to extort amber
and beads. After many hours labour, they had drawn up all the water from
the wells and carried it away. They were fairly baffled, however, by the
travellers; for in the evening, one of the soldiers having, as if by
accident, dropped his canteen into the well, he was lowered down by a
rope to pick it up; and standing at the bottom of the well, filled all
the camp-kettles of the party, so that the women had to depart in grief
and mortification.
After having passed through Kussai, the country was wooded for five
miles, when the travellers reached a level plain almost destitute of
shade, along which some hundreds of antelopes, of a dark colour, and
nearly as large as bullocks, were bounding. At half-past ten they again
came to the banks of the Gambia, and halted, during the heat of the day,
under a large spreading tree. The river was here one hundred yards
across, its waters swarming with crocodiles; and, contrary to Park's
expectations, he found that it had a regular tide, rising four inches by
the shore.
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