I know not, indeed, that any danger was justly to be dreaded, but
the negroes were unaccountably apprehensive of banditti during the
whole of the journey. As soon, therefore, as daylight appeared, we
filled our soofroos (skins) and calabashes at the pool, and set out
for Tallika, the first town in Bondou, which we reached about eleven
o'clock in the forenoon (the 13th of December).



CHAPTER IV--FROM TALLIKA TO KAJAAGA



Tallika, the frontier town of Bondou towards Woolli, is inhabited
chiefly by Foulahs of the Mohammedan religion, who live in
considerable affluence, partly by furnishing provisions to the
coffles, or caravans, that pass through the town, and partly by the
sale of ivory, obtained by hunting elephants, in which employment
the young men are generally very successful. Here an officer
belonging to the king of Bondou constantly resides, whose business
it is to give timely information of the arrival of the caravans,
which are taxed according to the number of loaded asses that arrive
at Tallika.

I took up my residence at this officer's house, and agreed with him
to accompany me to Fatteconda, the residence of the king, for which
he was to receive five bars; and before my departure I wrote a few
lines to Dr. Laidley, and gave my letter to the master of a caravan
bound for the Gambia. This caravan consisted of nine or ten people,
with five asses loaded with ivory. The large teeth are conveyed in