If I Continued Where I Was,
I Foresaw That I Must Soon Fall A Victim To The Barbarity Of The
Moors;
and yet if I went forward singly, it was evident that I must sustain
great difficulties, both from the
Want of means to purchase the
necessaries of life, and of an interpreter to make myself understood. On
the other hand, to return to England, without accomplishing the object of
my mission, was worse than either. I therefore determined to avail myself
of the first opportunity of escaping, and to proceed directly for
Bambarra, as soon as the rains had set in for a few days, so as to afford
me the certainty of finding water in the woods.
Such was my situation, when, on the evening of the 24th of June, I was
startled by the report of some muskets close to the town, and inquiring
the reason, was informed that the Jarra army had returned from fighting
Daisy, and that this firing was by way of rejoicing. However, when the
chief men of the town had assembled, and heard a full detail of the
expedition, they were by no means relieved from their uneasiness on
Daisy's account. The deceitful Moors having drawn back from the
confederacy, after being hired by the Negroes, greatly dispirited the
insurgents, who, instead of finding Daisy with a few friends concealed in
the strong fortress of Gedingooma, had found him at a town near Joka, in
the open country, surrounded by so numerous an army, that every attempt
to attack him was at once given up; and the confederates only thought of
enriching themselves, by the plunder of the small towns in the
neighbourhood. They accordingly fell upon one of Daisy's towns, and
carried off the whole of the inhabitants; but, lest intelligence of this
might reach Daisy, and induce him to cut off their retreat, they returned
through the woods by night, bringing with them the slaves and cattle
which they had captured.
June 26th. This afternoon, a spy from Kaarta brought the alarming
intelligence, that Daisy had taken Simbing in the morning, and would be
in Jarra some time in the course of the ensuing day. A number of the
people were immediately stationed on the tops of the rocks, and in the
different passages leading into the town, to give early intelligence of
Daisy's motions, and the women set about making the necessary
preparations for quitting the town as soon as possible. They continued
beating corn, and packing up different articles, during the night; and
early in the morning, nearly one half of the townspeople took the road
for Bambarra, by the Way of Deena.
Their departure was very affecting; the women and children crying; the
men sullen and dejected; and all of them looking back with regret on
their native town, and on the wells and rocks, beyond which their
ambition had never tempted them to stray, and where they had laid all
their plans of future happiness; all of which they were now forced to
abandon, and to seek shelter among strangers.
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