These Berries Are Much Esteemed By The Natives,
Who Convert Them Into A Sort Of Bread, By Exposing Them For Some Days To
The Sun, And Afterwards Pounding Them Gently In A Wooden Mortar, Until
The Farinaceous Part Of The Berry Is Separated From The Stone.
This meal
is then mixed with a little water, and formed into cakes; which, when
dried in the sun, resemble in colour and flavour the sweetest
gingerbread.
The stones are afterwards put into a vessel of water, and
shaken about so as to separate the meal which may still adhere to them;
this communicates a sweet and agreeable taste to the water, and, with the
addition of a little pounded millet, forms a pleasant gruel called
_fondi_, which is the common breakfast in many parts of Ludamar, during
the months of February and March. The fruit is collected by spreading a
cloth upon the ground, and beating, the branches with a stick.
The lotus is very common in all the kingdoms which I visited; but is
found in the greatest plenty on the sandy soil of Kaarta, Ludamar, and
the northern parts of Bambarra, where it is one of the most common shrubs
of the country. I had observed the same species at Gambia. The leaves of
the desert shrub are, however, much smaller; and more resembling, in that
particular, those represented in the engraving given by Desfontaines, in
the Memoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences, 1788, p. 443.
As this shrub is found in Tunis, and also in the Negro kingdoms, and as
it furnishes the natives of the latter with a food resembling bread, and
also with a sweet liquor, which is much relished by them, there can be
little doubt of its being the lotus mentioned by Pliny as the food of
the Lybian Lotophagi. An army may very well have been fed with the bread
I have tasted, made of the meal of the fruit, as is said by Pliny to have
been done in Lybia; and as the taste of the bread is sweet and agreeable,
it is not likely that the soldiers would complain of it.
We arrived in the evening at the village of Toorda; when all the rest of
the king's people turned back except two, who remained with me as guides
to Jarra.
Feb. 15th. I departed from Toorda, and about two o'clock came to a
considerable town called Funingkedy. As we approached the town the
inhabitants were much alarmed; for, as one of my guides wore a turban,
they mistook us for some Moorish banditti. This misapprehension was soon
cleared up, and we were well received by a Gambia Slatee, who resides at
this town, and at whose house we lodged.
Feb. 16th. We were informed that a number of people would go from this
town to Jarra on the day following; and as the road was much infested by
the Moors, we resolved to stay and accompany the travellers. In the
meantime, we were told, that a few days before our arrival, most of the
Bushreens and people of property in Funingkedy had gone to Jarra, to
consult about removing their families and effects to that town, for fear
of the approaching war; and that the Moors, in their absence, had stolen
some of their cattle.
About two o'clock, as I was lying asleep upon a bullock's hide behind the
door of the hut, I was awakened by the screams of women, and a general
clamour and confusion among the inhabitants. At first I suspected that
the Bambarrans had actually entered the town; but observing my boy upon
the top of one of the huts, I called to him to know what was the matter.
He informed me that the Moors were come a second time to steal the
cattle, and that they were now close to the town. I mounted the roof of
the hut, and observed a large herd of bullocks coming towards the town,
followed by five Moors on horseback, who drove the cattle forward with
their muskets. When they had reached the wells, which are close to the
town, the Moors selected from the herd sixteen of the finest beasts, and
drove them off at full gallop.
During this transaction, the townspeople, to the number of five hundred,
stood collected close to the walls of the town; and when the Moors drove
the cattle away, though they passed within pistol shot of them, the
inhabitants scarcely made a show of resistance. I only saw four muskets
fired, which, being loaded with gunpowder of the Negroes' own
manufacture, did no execution. Shortly after this I observed a number of
people supporting a young man upon horseback, and conducting him slowly
towards the town. This was one of the herdsmen, who, attempting to throw
his spear, had been wounded by a shot from one of the Moors. His mother
walked on before, quite frantic with grief, clapping her hands, and
enumerating the good qualities of her son. _Ee maffo fonio_, (he never
told a lie,) said the disconsolate mother, as her wounded son was carried
in at the gate - _Ee maffo fonio abada_, (he never told a lie; no, never.)
When they had conveyed him to his hut, and laid him upon a mat, all the
spectators joined in lamenting his fate, by screaming and howling in the
most piteous manner.
After their grief had subsided a little, I was desired to examine the
wound. I found that the ball had passed quite through his leg, having
fractured both bones a little below the knee. The poor boy was faint from
the loss of blood, and his situation withal so very precarious, that I
could not console his relations with any great hopes of his recovery.
However, to give him a possible chance, I observed to them that it was
necessary to cut off his leg above the knee. This proposal made every one
start with horror; they had never heard of such a method of cure, and
would by no means give their consent to it; indeed, they evidently
considered me as a sort of cannibal for proposing so cruel and unheard-of
an operation, which, in their opinion, would be attended with more pain
and danger than the wound itself.
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