As the characters and dispositions of the slatees, and people that composed the caravan, were entirely unknown to me, and as they seemed rather averse to my purpose, and unwilling to enter into any positive engagements on my account; and the time of their departure being withal very uncertain, I resolved, on further deliberation, to avail myself of the dry season, and proceed without them.

Dr. Laidley approved my determination, and promised me every assistance in his power, to enable me to prosecute my journey with comfort and safety.

This resolution having been formed, I made preparations accordingly. And now, being about to take leave of my hospitable friend, (whose kindness and solicitude continued to the moment of my departure,[1]) and to quit, for many months, the countries bordering on the Gambia, it seems proper, before I proceed with my narrative, that I should, in this place, give some account of the several Negro nations which inhabit the banks of this celebrated river, and the commercial intercourse that subsists between them, and such of the nations of Europe as find their advantage in trading to this part of Africa. The observations which have occurred to me on both these subjects will be found in the following chapter.

[1] Dr. Laidley, to my infinite regret, has since paid the debt of
nature. He left Africa in the latter end of 1797, intending to return
to Great Britain by way of the West Indies; and died soon after his
arrival at Barbadoes.

CHAPTER II.

_Description of the Feloops, the Jaloffs, the Foulahs, and Mandingoes.--Some account of the trade between the nations of Europe and the natives of Africa by the way of the Gambia, and between the native inhabitants of the coast and the nations of the interior countries--their mode of selling and buying._

The natives of the countries bordering on the Gambia, though distributed into a great many distinct governments, may, I think, be divided into four great classes; the Feloops, the Jaloffs, the Foulahs, and the Mandingoes. Among all these nations, the religion of Mahomet has made, and continues to make, considerable progress; but in most of them, the body of the people, both free and enslaved, persevere in maintaining the blind but harmless superstitions of their ancestors, and are called by the Mahomedans _kafirs_, or infidels.