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.
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