Very Few People Here
Can Swim; For They Came In Numbers To Dissuade Me From Venturing Into A
Pool, Where They Said The Water Would Come Over My Head.
About two
o'clock the messenger returned from Malacotta; and the schoolmaster's
elder brother being impatient to see him, came along with the messenger
to meet him at this village.
The interview between the two brothers, who
had not seen each other for nine years, was very natural and affecting.
They fell upon each other's neck, and it was some time before either of
them could speak. At length, when the schoolmaster had a little recovered
himself, he took his brother by the hand, and turning round, "This is the
man" (said he, pointing to Karfa) "who has been my father in Manding; I
would have pointed him out sooner to you, but my heart was too full."
We reached Malacotta in the evening, where we were well received. This is
an unwalled town; the huts for the most part are made of split cane,
twisted into a sort of wicker-work, and plastered over with mud. Here we
remained three days, and were each day presented with a bullock from the
schoolmaster; we were likewise well entertained by the townspeople, who
appear to be very active and industrious. They make very good soap, by
boiling ground nuts in water, and then adding a ley of wood ashes. They
likewise manufacture excellent iron: which they carry to Bondou to barter
for salt.
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