On Hearing
This, The Good Old Woman, With A Look Of Unaffected Benevolence,
Immediately Took The Basket From Her Head,
And showing me that it
contained ground nuts, asked me if I could eat them; being answered in
the affirmative,
She presented me with a few handfuls, and walked away
before I had time to thank her for this seasonable supply. This trifling
circumstance gave me peculiar satisfaction. I reflected with pleasure on
the conduct of this poor untutored slave, who, without examining into my
character or circumstances, listened implicitly to the dictates of her
own heart. Experience had taught her that hunger was painful, and her own
distresses made her commiserate those of others.
The old woman had scarcely left me, when I received information that a
nephew of Demba Sego Jalla, the Mandingo King of Kasson, was coming to
pay me a visit. He had been sent on an embassy to Batcheri, King of
Kajaaga, to endeavour to settle the disputes which had arisen between his
uncle and the latter; but after debating the matter four days without
success, he was now on his return; and hearing that a white man was at
Joag, in his way to Kasson, curiosity brought him to see me. I
represented to him my situation and distresses; when he frankly offered
me his protection, and said he would be my guide to Kasson, (provided I
would set out the next morning,) and be answerable for my safety. I
readily and gratefully accepted his offer; and was ready, with my
attendants, by daylight on the morning of the 27th of December.
My protector, whose name was Demba Sego, probably after his uncle, had a
numerous retinue. Our company at leaving Joag consisted of thirty persons
and six loaded asses; and we rode on cheerfully enough for some hours,
without any remarkable occurrence, until we came to a species of tree,
for which my interpreter, Johnson, had made frequent inquiry. On finding
it, he desired us to stop; and producing a white chicken, which he had
purchased at Joag for the purpose, he tied it by the leg to one of the
branches, and then told us we might now safely proceed, for that our
journey would be prosperous. This circumstance is mentioned merely to
illustrate the disposition of the Negroes, and to show the power of
superstition over their minds; for although this man had resided seven
years in England, it was evident that he still retained the prejudices
and notions he had imbibed in his youth. He meant this ceremony, he told
me, as an offering or sacrifice to the spirits of the woods; who were, he
said, a powerful race of beings of a white colour, with long flowing
hair. I laughed at his folly, but could not condemn the piety of his
motives.
At noon we had reached Gungadi, a large town, where we stopped about an
hour, until some of the asses that had fallen behind came up. Here I
observed a number of date trees, and a mosque built of clay, with six
turrets, on the pinnacles of which were placed six ostrich eggs. A little
before sunset we arrived at the town of Samee, on the banks of the
Senegal, which is here a beautiful but shallow river, moving slowly over
a bed of sand and gravel. The banks are high and covered with verdure;
the country is open and cultivated; and the rocky hills of Felow and
Bambouk add much to the beauty of the landscape.
December 28th. We departed from Samee, and arrived in the afternoon at
Kayee, a large village, part of which is situated on the north, and part
on the south side of the river. A little above this place is a
considerable cataract, where the river flows over a ledge of whinstone
rock with great force: below this the river is remarkably black and deep;
and here it was proposed to make our cattle swim over. After hallooing,
and firing some muskets, the people on the Kasson side observed us, and
brought over a canoe to carry our baggage. I did not, however, think it
possible to get the cattle down the bank, which is here more than forty
feet above the water; but the Negroes seized the horses, and launched one
at a time down a sort of trench or gulley that was almost perpendicular,
and seemed to have been worn smooth by this sort of use. After the
terrified cattle had been plunged in this manner to the water's edge,
every man got down as well as he could. The ferryman then taking hold of
the most steady of the horses by a rope, led him into the water, and
paddled the canoe a little from the brink; upon which a general attack
commenced upon the other horses, who, finding themselves pelted and
kicked on all sides, unanimously plunged into the river, and followed
their companion. A few boys swam in after them; and by laving water upon
them when they attempted to return, urged them onwards, and we had the
satisfaction in about fifteen minutes to see them all safe on the other
side. It was a matter of greater difficulty to manage the asses: their
natural stubbornness of disposition made them endure a great deal of
pelting and shoving before they would venture into the water; and when
they had reached the middle of the stream, four of them turned back, in
spite of every exertion to get them forwards. Two hours were spent in
getting the whole of them over; an hour more was employed in transporting
the baggage; and it was near sunset before the canoe returned, when Demba
Sego and myself embarked in this dangerous passage-boat, which the least
motion was like to overset. The king's nephew thought this a proper time
to have a peep into a tin box of mine, that stood in the forepart of the
canoe; and in stretching out his hand for it, he unfortunately destroyed
the equilibrium, and overset the canoe.
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