This Happened To Be A Market-Day At Sego,
And The Roads Were Every Where Filled With People Carrying Different
Articles To Sell.
We passed four large villages, and at eight o'clock saw
the smoke over Sego.
As we approached the town, I was fortunate enough to overtake the
fugitive Kaartans, to whose kindness I had been so much indebted on my
journey through Bambarra. They readily agreed to introduce me to the
king; and we rode together through some marshy ground, where, as I was
anxiously looking around for the river, one of them called out _qeo
affili_, (see the water,) and looking forwards, I saw with infinite
pleasure the great object of my mission, the long sought for majestic
Niger glittering to the morning sun, as broad as the Thames at
Westminster, and flowing slowly _to the eastward_. I hastened to the
brink, and having drank of the water, lifted up my fervent thanks in
prayer to the Great Ruler of all things for having thus far crowned my
endeavours with success.
The circumstance of the Niger's flowing towards the east and its
collateral points did not, however, excite my surprise; for although I
had left Europe in great hesitation on this subject, and rather believed
that it ran in the contrary direction, I had made such frequent inquiries
during my progress concerning this river, and received from Negroes of
different nations such clear and decisive assurances that its general
course was _towards the rising sun_, as scarce left any doubt on my mind;
and more especially, as I knew that Major Houghton had collected similar
information in the same manner.
Sego, the capital of Bambarra, at which I had now arrived, consists,
properly speaking, of four distinct towns; two on the northern bank of
the Niger, called Sego Korro, and Sego Boo; and two on the southern bank,
called Sego Soo Korro, and Sego See Korro. They are all surrounded with
high mud walls; the houses are built of clay, of a square form, with flat
roofs; some of them have two stories, and many of them are white-washed.
Besides these buildings, Moorish mosques are seen in every quarter, and
the streets, though narrow, are broad enough for every useful purpose in
a country where wheel carriages are entirely unknown. From the best
inquiries I could make, I have reason to believe that Sego contains
altogether about thirty thousand inhabitants. The king of Bambarra
constantly resides at Sego See Korro; he employs a great many slaves in
conveying people over the river, and the money they receive (though the
fare is only ten Kowrie shells for each individual) furnishes a
considerable revenue to the king in the course of a year. The canoes are
of a singular construction, each of them being formed of the trunks of
two large trees, rendered concave, and joined together, not side by side,
but end-ways, the junction being exactly across the middle of the canoe;
they are, therefore, very long and disproportionately narrow, and have
neither decks nor masts.
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