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.
In one of those excursions, having rambled farther than usual, on a
hot day, I brought on a return of my fever, and on the 10th of
September I was again confined to my bed.
The fever, however, was
not so violent as before; and in the course of three weeks I was
able, when the weather would permit, to renew my botanical
excursions; and when it rained, I amused myself with drawing plants,
&c., in my chamber. The care and attention of Dr. Laidley
contributed greatly to alleviate my sufferings; his company and
conversation beguiled the tedious hours during that gloomy season,
when the rain falls in torrents; when suffocating heats oppress by
day, and when the night is spent by the terrified travellers in
listening to the croaking of frogs (of which the numbers are beyond
imagination), the shrill cry of the jackal, and the deep howling of
the hyaena, a dismal concert, interrupted only by the roar of such
tremendous thunder as no person can form a conception of but those
who have heard it.
The country itself being an immense level, and very generally
covered with wood, presents a tiresome and gloomy uniformity to the
eye; but although Nature has denied to the inhabitants the beauties
of romantic landscapes, she has bestowed on them, with a liberal
hand, the more important blessings of fertility and abundance. A
little attention to cultivation procures a sufficiency of corn, the
fields afford a rich pasturage for cattle, and the natives are
plentifully supplied with excellent fish, both from the Gambia river
and the Walli creek.
The grains which are chiefly cultivated are - Indian corn (zea mays);
two kinds of holcus spicatus, called by the natives soono and sanio;
holcus niger, and holcus bicolor, the former of which they have
named bassi woolima, and the latter bassiqui. These, together with
rice, are raised in considerable quantities; besides which, the
inhabitants in the vicinity of the towns and villages have gardens
which produce onions, calavances, yams, cassavi, ground nuts,
pompions, gourds, water-melons, and some other esculent plants.
I observed likewise, near the towns, small patches of cotton and
indigo. The former of these articles supplies them with clothing,
and with the latter they dye their cloth of an excellent blue
colour, in a manner that will hereafter be described.
In preparing their corn for food, the natives use a large wooden
mortar called a paloon, in which they bruise the seed until it parts
with the outer covering, or husk, which is then separated from the
clean corn by exposing it to the wind, nearly in the same manner as
wheat is cleared from the chaff in England. The corn thus freed
from the husk is returned to the mortar and beaten into meal, which
is dressed variously in different countries; but the most common
preparation of it among the nations of the Gambia is a sort of
pudding which they call kouskous. It is made by first moistening
the flour with water, and then stirring and shaking it about in a
large calabash, or gourd, till it adheres together in small granules
resembling sago. It is then put into an earthen pot, whose bottom
is perforated with a number of small holes; and this pot being
placed upon another, the two vessels are luted together either with
a paste of meal and water, or with cows' dung, and placed upon the
fire. In the lower vessel is commonly some animal food and water,
the steam or vapour of which ascends through the perforations in the
bottom of the upper vessel, and softens and the kouskous, which is
very much esteemed throughout all the countries that I visited. I
am informed that the same manner of preparing flour is very
generally used on the Barbary coast, and that the dish so prepared
is there called by the same name. It is therefore probable that the
negroes borrowed the practice from the Moors.
Their domestic animals are nearly the same as in Europe. Swine are
found in the woods, but their flesh is not esteemed. Probably the
marked abhorrence in which this animal is held by the votaries of
Mohammed has spread itself among the pagans. Poultry of all kinds,
the turkey excepted, is everywhere to be had. The guinea-fowl and
red partridge abound in the fields, and the woods furnish a small
species of antelope, of which the venison is highly and deservedly
prized.
Of the other wild animals in the Mandingo countries, the most common
are the hyaena, the panther, and the elephant. Considering the use
that is made of the latter in the East Indies, it may be thought
extraordinary that the natives of Africa have not, in any part of
this immense continent, acquired the skill of taming this powerful
and docile creature, and applying his strength and faculties to the
service of man. When I told some of the natives that this was
actually done in the countries of the East, my auditors laughed me
to scorn, and exclaimed, "Tobaubo fonnio!" ("A white man's lie!")
The negroes frequently find means to destroy the elephant by
firearms; they hunt it principally for the sake of the teeth, which
they transfer in barter to those who sell them again to the
Europeans. The flesh they eat, and consider it as a great delicacy.
On the 6th of October the waters of the Gambia were at the greatest
height, being fifteen feet above the high-water mark of the tide,
after which they began to subside, at first slowly, but afterwards
very rapidly, sometimes sinking more than a foot in twenty-four
hours. By the beginning of November the river had sunk to its
former level, and the tide ebbed and flowed as usual. When the
river had subsided, and the atmosphere grew dry, I recovered apace,
and began to think of my departure, for this is reckoned the most
proper season for travelling.
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