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;
The Natives Had Completed Their Harvest, And Provisions Were Every Where
Cheap And Plentiful.
Dr. Laidley was at this time employed in a trading voyage at Jonkakonda.
I
wrote to him to desire that he would use his interest with the slatees,
or slave-merchants, to procure me the company and protection of the first
_coffle_ (or caravan) that might leave Gambia for the interior country;
and in the meantime I requested him to purchase for me a horse and two
asses. A few days afterwards the Doctor returned to Pisania, and informed
me that a coffle would certainly go for the interior in the course of the
dry season; but that as many of the merchants belonging to it had not yet
completed their assortment of goods, he could not say at what time they
would set out.
As the characters and dispositions of the slatees, and people that
composed the caravan, were entirely unknown to me, and as they seemed
rather averse to my purpose, and unwilling to enter into any positive
engagements on my account; and the time of their departure being withal
very uncertain, I resolved, on further deliberation, to avail myself of
the dry season, and proceed without them.
Dr. Laidley approved my determination, and promised me every assistance in
his power, to enable me to prosecute my journey with comfort and safety.
This resolution having been formed, I made preparations accordingly. And
now, being about to take leave of my hospitable friend, (whose kindness
and solicitude continued to the moment of my departure,[1]) and to quit,
for many months, the countries bordering on the Gambia, it seems proper,
before I proceed with my narrative, that I should, in this place, give
some account of the several Negro nations which inhabit the banks of this
celebrated river, and the commercial intercourse that subsists between
them, and such of the nations of Europe as find their advantage in
trading to this part of Africa. The observations which have occurred to
me on both these subjects will be found in the following chapter.
[1] Dr. Laidley, to my infinite regret, has since paid the debt of
nature. He left Africa in the latter end of 1797, intending to return
to Great Britain by way of the West Indies; and died soon after his
arrival at Barbadoes.
CHAPTER II.
_Description of the Feloops, the Jaloffs, the Foulahs, and
Mandingoes. - Some account of the trade between the nations of Europe and
the natives of Africa by the way of the Gambia, and between the native
inhabitants of the coast and the nations of the interior countries - their
mode of selling and buying._
The natives of the countries bordering on the Gambia, though distributed
into a great many distinct governments, may, I think, be divided into
four great classes; the Feloops, the Jaloffs, the Foulahs, and the
Mandingoes. Among all these nations, the religion of Mahomet has made,
and continues to make, considerable progress; but in most of them, the
body of the people, both free and enslaved, persevere in maintaining the
blind but harmless superstitions of their ancestors, and are called by
the Mahomedans _kafirs_, or infidels.
Of the Feloops, I have little to add to what has been observed concerning
them in the former chapter. They are of a gloomy disposition, and are
supposed never to forgive an injury. They are even said to transmit their
quarrels as deadly feuds to their posterity; insomuch that a son
considers it as incumbent on him, from a just sense of filial obligation,
to become the avenger of his deceased father's wrongs. If a man loses his
life in one of those sudden quarrels, which perpetually occur at their
feasts, when the whole party is intoxicated with mead, his son, or the
eldest of his sons, (if he has more than one,) endeavours to procure his
father's sandals, which he wears _once a year_, on the anniversary of his
father's death, until a fit opportunity offers of avenging his fate, when
the object of his resentment seldom escapes his pursuit. This fierce and
unrelenting disposition is, however, counterbalanced by many good
qualities; they display the utmost gratitude and affection towards their
benefactors; and the fidelity with which they preserve whatever is
entrusted to them is remarkable. During the present war they have, more
than once, taken up arms to defend our merchant vessels from French
privateers; and English property, of considerable value, has frequently
been left at Vintain, for a long time, entirely under the care of the
Feloops, who have uniformly manifested on such occasions the strictest
honesty and punctuality. How greatly is it to be wished, that the minds
of a people so determined and faithful, could be softened and civilized
by the mild and benevolent spirit of Christianity!
The Jaloffs (or Yaloffs) are an active, powerful, and warlike race,
inhabiting great part of that tract which lies between the river Senegal
and the Mandingo States on the Gambia; yet they differ from the
Mandingoes, not only in language, but likewise in complexion and
features. The noses of the Jaloffs are not so much depressed, nor the
lips so protuberant, as among the generality of Africans; and although
their skin is of the deepest black, they are considered by the white
traders as the most sightly Negroes in this part of the Continent.
They are divided into several independent states or kingdoms; which are
frequently at war either with their neighbours, or with each other. In
their manners, superstitions, and government, however, they have a
greater resemblance to the Mandingoes (of whom I shall presently speak)
than to any other nation; but excel them in the manufacture of cotton
cloth, spinning the wool to a finer thread, weaving it in a broader loom,
and dyeing it of a better colour.
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