Having Felt The Want Of Regal Protection In A Former Part Of My
Journey, I Was Unwilling To Hazard A
Repetition of the hardships I had
then experienced, especially as the money I had received was probably the
last supply
That I should obtain; I therefore determined to wait for the
return of the messengers from Kaarta.
In the interim, it began to be whispered abroad, that I had received
plenty of gold from Salim Daucari; and on the morning of the 23d, Sambo
Sego paid me a visit with a party of horsemen. He insisted upon knowing
the exact amount of the money I had obtained; declaring, that whatever
the sum was, one half of it must go to the king; besides which, he
intimated that he expected a handsome present for himself, as being the
king's sons and for his attendants, as being the king's relations. The
reader will easily perceive, that if all these demands had been
satisfied, I should not have been overburdened with money; but though it
was very mortifying to me to comply with the demands of injustice, and so
arbitrary an exaction, yet, thinking it was highly dangerous to make a
foolish resistance, and irritate the lion when within the reach of his
paw, I prepared to submit; and if Salim Daucari had not interposed, all
my endeavours to mitigate this oppressive claim would have been of no
avail, Salim at last prevailed upon Sambo to accept sixteen bars of
European merchandize, and some powder and ball, as a complete payment of
every demand that could be made upon me in the kingdom of Kasson.
January 26th. In the forenoon, I went to the top of a high hill to the
southward of Soolo, where I had a most enchanting prospect of the
country. The number of towns and villages, and the extensive cultivation
around them, surpassed every thing I had yet seen in Africa. A gross
calculation may be formed of the number of inhabitants in this delightful
plain, by considering, that the King of Kasson can raise four thousand
fighting men by the sound of his war-drum. In traversing the rocky
eminences of this hill, which are almost destitute of vegetation, I
observed a number of large holes in the crevices and fissures of the
rocks, where the wolves and hyaenas take refuge during the day. Some of
these animals paid us a visit on the evening of the 27th: their approach
was discovered by the dogs of the village; and on this occasion it is
remarkable, that the dogs did not bark, but howl in the most dismal
manner. The inhabitants of the village no sooner heard them than, knowing
the cause, they armed themselves; and providing bunches of dry grass,
went in a body to the inclosure in the middle of the village where the
cattle were kept. Here they lighted the bunches of grass, and, waving
them to and fro, ran hooping and hallooing towards the hills.
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