Of the other wild animals in the Mandingo countries, the most common are
the hyaena, the panther, and the elephant. Considering the use that is
made of the latter in the East Indies, it may be thought extraordinary,
that the natives of Africa have not, in any part of this immense
continent, acquired the skill of taming this powerful and docile
creature, and applying his strength and faculties to the service of man.
When I told some of the natives that this was actually done in the
countries of the East, my auditors laughed me to scorn, and exclaimed,
_Tobaubo fonnio!_ (a white man's lie.) The Negroes frequently find means
to destroy the elephant by fire-arms; they hunt it principally for the
sake of the teeth, which they transfer in barter to those who sell them
again to the Europeans. The flesh they eat, and consider it as a great
delicacy.
The usual beast of burthen in all the Negro territories is the ass. The
application of animal labour to the purposes of agriculture is no where
adopted; the plough, therefore, is wholly unknown. The chief implement
used in husbandry is the hoe, which varies in form in different
districts; and the labour is universally performed by slaves.
On the 6th of October the waters of the Gambia were at the greatest
height, being fifteen feet above the high-water-mark of the tide; after
which they began to subside; at first slowly, but afterwards very
rapidly; sometimes sinking more than a foot in twenty-four hours; by the
beginning of November the river had sunk to its former level, and the
tide ebbed and flowed as usual. 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.
