After A Siege Of Two Months, The Townspeople
Became Involved In All The Horrors Of Famine; And Whilst The King's
Army
were feasting in their trenches, they saw with pleasure the miserable
inhabitants of Sai devour the leaves and bark
Of the Bentang tree that
stood in the middle of the town. Finding, however, that the besieged
would sooner perish than surrender, the king had recourse to treachery.
He promised, that if they would open the gates, no person should be put
to death, nor suffer any injury but the Dooty alone. The poor old man
determined to sacrifice himself for the sake of his fellow citizens, and
immediately walked over to the king's army, where he was put to death.
His son, in attempting to escape, was caught and massacred in the
trenches; and the rest of the townspeople were carried away captives, and
sold as slaves to the different Negro traders.
About noon I came to the village of Kaimoo, situated upon the bank of the
river; and as the corn I had purchased at Sibili was exhausted, I
endeavoured to purchase a fresh supply, but was informed that corn was
become very scarce all over the country; and, though I offered fifty
kowries for a small quantity, no person would sell me any. As I was about
to depart, however, one of the villagers (who probably mistook me for a
Moorish shereef) brought me some as a present; only desiring me in return
to bestow my blessing upon him; which I did in plain English, and he
received it with a thousand acknowledgments. Of this present I made my
dinner; and it was the third successive day that I had subsisted entirely
upon raw corn.
In the evening I arrived at a small village called Song, the surly
inhabitants of which would not receive me, nor so much as permit me to
enter the gate; but as lions were very numerous in this neighbourhood,
and I had frequently, in the course of the day, seen the impression of
their feet on the road, I resolved to stay in the vicinity of the
village. Having collected some grass for my horse, I accordingly lay down
under a tree by the gate. About ten o'clock I heard the hollow roar of a
lion at no great distance, and attempted to open the gate; but the people
from within told me, that no person must attempt to enter the gate
without the Dooty's permission. I begged them to inform the Dooty that a
lion was approaching the village, and I hoped he would allow me to come
within the gate. I waited for an answer to this message with great
anxiety; for the lion kept prowling round the village, and once advanced
so very near me, that I heard him rustling among the grass, and climbed
the tree for safety. About midnight the Dooty, with some of his people,
opened the gate, and desired me to come in. They were convinced, they
said, that I was not a Moor; for no Moor ever waited any time at the gate
of a village, without cursing the inhabitants.
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