•214* TRAVELS IN AFRICA.

lion of a new well about fifteen feet deep, wo completed in a few days ; during which his majesty paid me some visits, and made us a present of a bullock, asking, however, in return, a piece of baft to make a dress which was double its value.

We had not been long here when Alley Lowe, the man fhad sent from Samba Contaye with the dollars and other articles to Mr. Dochard, returned, not having been able to pass Kasson, where he was robbed, and from where he with difficulty escaped with his life. Dheangina, the man who accompanied him, was taken ill with the Guinea worm at a very early part of their march, in which state he remained so long unable to move, that Alley Lowe endeavoured to prosecute the journey alone, but in which he unfortunately failed. He had neither seen nor heard any thing of Bakoro or the man I sent with him ; I was therefore in hopes they had been able to pass 5 but alas ! those hopes soon vanished, and I had the mortification of seeing them return in a short time equally unsuccessful. Their case however was not that of Alley Lowe, who would have got on if the possibility of his doing so had existed.

They had idled so much of their time at the towns and villages they passed on the road, that their stock of articles for the purchase of provisions was soon exhausted, and they were reduced