166 TRAVELS IN AFRICA; expressed so strong an aversion to accompatiy the mission any further, and appeared so deterjnined on returning to the coast, that I found it necessary to consent to his doing so, being aware that with such a feeUng on his part, his future services (were I to oppose him) would not be satisfactory. Private Nicholson too, who had laboured for several months under chronic dysentery, and was reduced to a perfect skeleton, requested the like indulgence, and was in like manner permitted to return ; and as I was informed by Captain Dechastelieu, that one of his vessels would return to St. Louis in a few days, I took advantage of an invitation from him, in the name of the other officers of his fleet, to repair to Conghell, a town of Galam, on the banks of the Senegal, (about fourteen miles from our camp), where they then were, in order to obtain a passage for them, and which was offered by the officer commanding the vessels, in the most handsome manner, before I had time to ask it.

On my return to the camp, I apprised Mr.

Pilkington of the readiness expressed by the officer commanding the French vessels to accommodate him in every way possible, and, having placed in his charge some effects belonging to the deceased officers, directed to his Excellency the Governor of Sierra Leone, he left the camp on the 4th of November, accompanied by the