Not having many opportunities, however,
during my residence at Pisania, of improving my acquaintance with these
people, I defer entering at large into their character, until a fitter
occasion occurs, which will present itself when I come to Bondou.
The Mandingoes, of whom it remains to speak, constitute in truth the bulk
of the inhabitants in all those districts of Africa which I visited; and
their language, with a few exceptions, is universally understood and very
generally spoken in that part of the continent. Their numerals are
these:[2]
One ......... _Killin_.
Two ......... _Foola_.
Three ......... _Sabba_.
Four ......... _Nani_.
Five ......... _Looloo_.
Six ......... _Woro_.
Seven ......... _Oronglo_.
Eight ......... _Sie_.
Nine ......... _Conunta_.
Ten ......... _Tang_.
Eleven ......... _Tan ning killin_, &c.
[2] In the Travels of Francis Moore the reader will find a pretty
copious vocabulary of the Mandingo language, which in general is
correct.
They are called Mandingoes, I conceive, as having originally migrated
from the interior state of Manding, of which some account will hereafter
be given; but, contrary to the present constitution of their parent
country, which is republican, it appeared to me that the government in
all the Mandingo states, near the Gambia, is monarchical.
