About
Noon, I Stopped Under A Tree, To Consider What Course To Take; For I Had
Now No Doubt But
That the Moors and Slatees had misinformed the king
respecting the object of my mission, and that the people were
Absolutely
in search of me to convey me a prisoner to Sego. Sometimes I had thoughts
of swimming my horse across the Niger, and going to the southward for
Cape Coast; but reflecting that I had ten days to travel before I should
reach Kong, and afterward an extensive country to traverse, inhabited by
various nations, with whose language and manners I was totally
unacquainted, I relinquished this scheme, and judged that I should better
answer the purpose of my mission, by proceeding to the westward along the
Niger, endeavouring to ascertain how far the river was navigable in that
direction. Having resolved upon this course, I proceeded accordingly; and
a little before sunset arrived at a Foulah village called Sooboo, where,
for two hundred kowries, I procured lodging for the night.
Aug. 14th. I continued my course along the bank of the river, through a
populous and well cultivated country. I passed a walled town called
Kamalia,[14] without stopping; and at noon rode through a large town called
Samee, where there happened to be a market, and a number of people
assembled in an open place in the middle of the town, selling cattle,
cloth, corn, &c. I rode through the midst of them without being much
observed, every one taking me for a Moor. In the afternoon I arrived at a
small village called Binni, where I agreed with the Dooty's son, for one
hundred kowries, to allow me to stay for the night; but when the Dooty
returned, he insisted that I should instantly leave the place, and if his
wife and son had not interceded for me, I must have complied.
[14] There is another town of this name hereafter to be mentioned.
Aug. 15th. About nine o'clock I passed a large town called Sai, which
very much excited my curiosity. It is completely surrounded by two very
deep trenches, at about two hundred yards distant from the walls. On the
top of the trenches are a number of square towers, and the whole has the
appearance of a regular fortification. Inquiring into the origin of this
extraordinary entrenchment, I learned from two of the townspeople the
following particulars, which, if true, furnish a mournful picture of the
enormities of African wars. About fifteen years ago, when the present
King of Bambarra's father desolated Maniana, the Dooty of Sai had two
sons slain in battle, fighting in the king's cause. He had a third son
living; and when the king demanded a further reinforcement of men, and
this youth among the rest, the Dooty refused to send him. This conduct so
enraged the king, that when he returned from Maniana, about the beginning
of the rainy season, and found the Dooty protected by the inhabitants, he
sat down before Sai with his army, and surrounded the town with the
trenches I had now seen.
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