SILLA, a large town on the Niger, by which the
travels of Mr Park were bounded towards the east. He
gives no particular description of the place, which his
health and spirits permitted him not to survey, but as-
signs the reasons by which he was induced to proceed no
farther. On his arrival, he was allowed to remain un-
der a tree, till it was quite dark, surrounded by hun-
dreds of people. But their language was extremely dif-
ferent from the other parts of Bambarra; and he was
given to understand, that in his progress eastward, the
Bambarra tongue was very little understood; and that,
on his reaching Jenné, he would find the greater part of
the inhabitants accustomed to speak a different language.
He had now become the prey of sickness, exhausted with
hunger and fatigue, half naked, and without any arti-
cle of value, to procure for himself provisions, clothes,
or lodging, on which account he resolved to return, find-
ing that to prosecute his journey further in that direc-
tion was wholly impracticable. Silla, according to the
latest map of Africa, is in 14° 48' N. Lat. and 1° 24'
W. Long.