The next expedition was made by a new agent, and from a different route.

Major Houghton, who had resided for some years as consul at Morocco, and afterwards in a military capacity at Goree, undertook the attempt to reach the Niger by the route of Gambia, not, like Jobson and Stibbs, ascending its stream in boats, but travelling singly and by land.

He seems to have been endowed with a gay, active, and sanguine spirit, fitted to carry him through the boldest undertaking, but without that cool and calculating temper necessary for him, who endeavours to make his way amid scenes of peril and treachery.

He began his journey early in 1791, and soon reached Medina, the capital of Woolli, where the venerable chief received him with extreme kindness, promised to furnish guides, and assured him he might go to Timbuctoo with his staff in his hand.

The only evil that befell him at Medina, arose from a fire that broke out there, and spreading rapidly through buildings roofed with cane and matted grass, converted a town of a thousand houses, in an hour, into a heap of ashes.