They Were Permitted To
Lie Down In The Woods, And Three People Remained With Them Until They Had
Rested Themselves;
But they did not arrive at the town until past
midnight; and were then so much exhausted, that the Slatee
Gave up all
thoughts of taking them across the woods in their present condition, and
determined to return with them to Bala, and wait for another opportunity.
As this was the first town beyond the limits of Manding, greater
etiquette than usual was observed. Every person was ordered to keep in
his proper station, and we marched towards the town in a sort of
procession nearly as follows. In front five or six singing men, all of
them belonging to the coffle; these were followed by the other free
people; then came the slaves fastened in the usual way by a rope round
their necks, four of them to a rope, and a man with a spear between each
four; after them came the domestic slaves, and in the rear the women of
free condition, wives of the Slatees, &c. In this manner we proceeded,
until we came within a hundred yards of the gate, when the singing men
began a loud song, well calculated to flatter the vanity of the
inhabitants, by extolling their known hospitality to strangers, and their
particular friendship for the Mandingoes. When we entered the town we
proceeded to the Bentang, where the people gathered round us to hear our
_dentegi_, (history;) this was related publicly by two of the singing
men; they enumerated every little circumstance which had happened to the
coffle; beginning with the events of the present day, and relating every
thing, in a backward series, until they reached Kamalia. When this
history was ended, the master of the town gave them a small present, and
all the people of the coffle, both free and enslaved, were invited by
some person or other, and accommodated with lodging and provisions for
the night.
CHAPTER XXV.
_The coffle crosses the Jallonka Wilderness. - Miserable fate of one of
the female slaves. - Arrives at Sooseeta. - Proceeds to Manna. - Some
account of the Jallonkas. - Crosses the main stream of the
Senegal. - Bridge of a singular construction. - Arrives at
Malacotta. - Remarkable conduct of the King of the Jalofs._
We continued at Kinytakooro until noon of the 22d of April, when we
removed to a village about seven miles to the westward, the inhabitants
of which being apprehensive of hostilities from the Foulahs of Fooladoo,
were at this time employed in constructing small temporary huts among the
rocks, on the side of a high hill close to the village. The situation was
almost impregnable, being everywhere surrounded with high precipices,
except on the eastern side, where the natives had left a pathway
sufficient to allow one person at a time to ascend. Upon the brow of the
hill, immediately over this path, I observed several heaps of large loose
stones, which the people told me were intended to be thrown down upon the
Foulahs, if they should attempt the hill.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 186 of 282
Words from 97579 to 98089
of 148366
