with their demand, and having presented them with four bars of tobacco, for the king's use, I was permitted to continue my journey, and at sunset reached a village near Kootacunda, where we rested for the night, «gr In the morning of December 4th, I passed Kootacunda, the last town of Walli, and stopped about an hour at a small adjoining village to pay customs to an officer of the King of W oo jli; we rested the ensuing night at a village called Tabajang ; and at noon the next day (December 5th) we reached Medina, the capital of the King of Woolli’s dominions. The kingdom of Woolli is bounded by Walli on the west, by the Gambia on the south, by the small river Walli on the north w e s t; by Bondou on the north east; and on the east, by the Simbani wilderness. The country every where rises into gentle acclivities, which are generally covered with extensive woods, and the towns are situated in the intermediate valleys. Each town is surrounded by a tract of cultivated land, the produce of which, I presume, is found sufficient to supply the wants of the inhabitants;! for the soil appeared to me to be every where fertile, except near the tops of the ridges, where the red iron stone and stunted shrubs sufficiently marked the boundaries between fertility and barrenness. The chief productions are cotton, tobacco, and esculent vegetables; all which are raised in the valleys, the rising grounds being appropriated to different sorts of corn. The inhabitants are Mandingoes ; and, like most of the Man- dingo nations, are divided into two great sects, the Mahometans, who are called Bushreens, and the Pagans who are called indiscriminately Kafirs (unbelievers) and Sonakies (;. e. men who drink strong liquors. ) The Pagan natives are by far the most numerous, and the government of the country is in their hands; for though the most respectable among the Bushreens are frequently consulted in affairs of importance, yet they are never permitted to take any share in the executive government, which rests solely in the hands of the Mans a, or sovereign, and great officers of the state. Of these, the first in point of rank.is the presumptive heir of the crown, who is called the havhiinna, - next to him are the Alkaids, or provincial governors, who are more frequently called Keamos. Then follow the two grand divisions of freemen and slaves; * of the former, the Slatees, so frequently mentioned in the preceding pages, are considered as the principal : but in all elates, great respect is paid to the authority of aged men. On the death of the reigning monarch, his eldest son (if he has attained the age of manhood) succeeds to the regal authority. J f there is no son, or if the son is under the age of discretion, a meeting of the great men is held, and the late monarch s nearest relation' (commonly his brother), is called to the government, not as regent, or guardian to the infant son, but in full right, and to the- exclusion of the minor. The charges of-the government are defrayed by occasional tributes from the people, and by duties on goods transported across the country, Travellers, on going from the Gambia towards the interior, pay customs in European merchandize. On returning, they pay in iron and shea.-tou.lou : these taxe^ are paid at every town. * T h e term which signifies a man o f free condition is Horia,.that o f a slave, Jungi F 2
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