124 CHAPTER VI.

Description of Boolibany—Delays and Disappointments there—Scarcity of Provisions—Death of Private Pickard -—My decision of passing the rains in the Country, and Departure for Samba Contaye to select a position for winter quarters—Arrival of the Expedition from Boolibany—INIr. Pilkington and men left there sick Death of Lieutenant Burton, and Sickness of the IMen—Preparatiims for INIr. Dochard's Departure for Sego—Almamy's Arrival near our Camp—Difficulties about the Guide Mr. Dochard's Departure—The Object of his Embassy Mr. Partarrieau's Departure for the Coast—Mr. Nelson's weak state—A regular Market established—Mr. Pilkington's Arrival from the Capital—iIr. Nelson's Death —My ownlndisposition—Deaths amongst the Men—Extraordinary Ceremony at the killing of a lioness—Lions' Attack on the Horse—Accounts from i\Ir. Dochard—Return of the Messengers—Almamy's unjust Conduct, and its Results.

Boolibany, the capital of Boiidoo, stands in an extensive plain at the foot of a range of rocky hills, which are distant from it about a quarter of a mile east : to the west, the dry bed of a considerable torrent winds along the plain, and, in the season of the rains, conducts the water, which descends in a thousand streams from the hills, to the Faliuie and Senegal.