The Gambia abounds with fish, some species of which are excellent food; but none of them that I recollect are known in Europe.  At the entrance from the sea sharks are found in great abundance, and, higher up, alligators and the hippopotamus (or river-horse) are very numerous.

In six days after leaving Vintain we reached Jonkakonda, a place of considerable trade, where our vessel was to take in part of her lading.  The next morning the several European traders came from their different factories to receive their letters, and learn the nature and amount of her cargo; and the captain despatched a messenger to Dr. Laidley to inform him of my arrival.  He came to Jonkakonda the morning following, when I delivered him Mr. Beaufoy’s letter, and he gave me a kind invitation to spend my time at his house until an opportunity should offer of prosecuting my journey.  This invitation was too acceptable to be refused, and being furnished by the Doctor with a horse and guide, I set out from Jonkakonda at daybreak on the 5th of July, and at eleven o’clock arrived at Pisania, where I was accommodated with a room and other conveniences in the Doctor’s house.

Pisania is a small village in the king of Yany’s dominions, established by British subjects as a factory for trade, and inhabited solely by them and their black servants.  It is situated on the banks of the Gambia, sixteen miles above Jonkakonda.  The white residents, at the time of may arrival there, consisted only of Dr. Laidley, and two gentlemen who were brothers, of the name of Ainsley; but their domestics were numerous.  They enjoyed perfect security under the king’s protection, and being highly esteemed and respected by the natives at large, wanted no accommodation or comfort which the country could supply, and the greatest part of the trade in slaves, ivory, and gold was in their hands.

Being now settled for some time at my ease, my first object was to learn the Mandingo tongue, being the language in almost general use throughout this part of Africa, and without which I was fully convinced that I never could acquire an extensive knowledge of the country or its inhabitants.  In this pursuit I was greatly assisted by Dr. Laidley.

In researches of this kind, and in observing the manners and customs of the natives, in a country so little known to the nations of Europe, and furnished with so many striking and uncommon objects of nature, my time passed not unpleasantly, and I began to flatter myself that I had escaped the fever, or seasoning, to which Europeans, on their first arrival in hot climates, are generally subject.  But on the 31st of July I imprudently exposed myself to the night-dew in observing an eclipse of the moon, with a view to determine the longitude of the place; the next day I found myself attacked with a smart fever and delirium, and such an illness followed as confined me to the house during the greatest part of August.  My recovery was very slow, but I embraced every short interval of convalescence to walk out, and make myself acquainted with the productions of the country.