In A Short Time, A Canoe With Two Boys, Came Paddling
From Among The Reeds.
These boys agreed, for fifty Kowries, to transport
me and my horse over the river, which was effected without
Much
difficulty, and I arrived in the evening at Taffara, a walled town; and
soon discovered that the language of the natives was improved from the
corrupted dialect of Bambarra to the pure Mandingo.
CHAPTER XVIII.
_Inhospitable reception at Taffara. - A Negro funeral at Sooha. - The
Author continues his route through several villages along the banks of
the Niger, until he comes to Koolikorro. - Supports himself by writing
saphies - reaches Maraboo - loses the road; and, after many difficulties,
arrives at Bammakoo. - Takes the road for Sibidooloo - meets with great
kindness at a village called Kooma; - is afterwards robbed, stripped, and
plundered by banditti. - The Author's resource and consolation under
exquisite distress. - He arrives in safety at Sibidooloo._
On my arrival at Taffara, I inquired for the Dooty, but was informed that
he had died a few days before my arrival, and that there was, at that
moment, a meeting of the chief men for electing another, there being some
dispute about the succession. It was probably owing to the unsettled
state of the town, that I experienced such a want of hospitality in it,
for, though I informed the inhabitants that I should only remain with
them for one night, and assured them that Mansong had given me some
kowries to pay for my lodging, yet no person invited me to come in; and I
was forced to sit alone under the Bentang tree, exposed to the rain and
wind of a tornado, which lasted with great violence until midnight. At
this time the stranger, who had assisted me in crossing the river, paid
me a visit, and observing that I had not found a lodging, invited me to
take part of his supper, which he had brought to the door of his hut;
for, being a guest himself, he could not, without his landlord's consent,
invite me to come in. After this, I slept upon some wet grass in the
corner of a court. My horse fared still worse than myself, the corn I had
purchased being all expended, and I could not procure a supply.
Aug. 20th. I passed the town of Jaba, and stopped a few minutes at a
village called Somino, where I begged and obtained some coarse food,
which the natives prepare from the husks of corn, and call _Boo_. About
two o'clock I came to the village of Sooha, and endeavoured to purchase
some corn from the Dooty, who was sitting by the gate, but without
success. I then requested a little food by way of charity, but was told
that he had none to spare. Whilst I was examining the countenance of this
inhospitable old man, and endeavouring to find out the cause of the
sullen discontent which was visible in his eye, he called to a slave who
was working in the corn-field at a little distance, and ordered him to
bring his hoe along with him. The Dooty then told him to dig a hole in
the ground, pointing to a spot at no great distance. The slave, with his
hoe, began to dig a pit in the earth; and the Dooty, who appeared to be a
man of a very fretful disposition, kept muttering and talking to himself
until the pit was almost finished, when he repeated _dankatoo_ (good for
nothing;) _jiankra lemen_ (a real plague;) which expressions I thought
could be applied to nobody but myself; and as the pit had very much the
appearance of a grave, I thought it prudent to mount my horse, and was
about to decamp, when the slave, who had before gone into the village, to
my surprise, returned with a corpse of a boy about nine or ten years of
age, quite naked. The Negro carried the body by a leg and an arm, and
threw it into the pit with a savage indifference, which I had never
before seen. As he covered the body with earth, the Dooty often expressed
himself, _naphula attiniata_ (money lost;) whence I concluded that the
boy had been one of his slaves.
Departing from this shocking scene, I travelled by the side of the river
until sunset, when I came to Koolikorro; a considerable town, and a great
market for salt. Here I took up my lodging at the house of a Barabarran,
who had formerly been the slave of a Moor, and in that character had
travelled to Aoran, Towdinni, and many other places in the Great Desert;
but turning Mussulman, and his master dying at Jenne, he obtained his
freedom, and settled at this place, where he carries on a considerable
trade in salt, cotton-cloth, &c. His knowledge of the world has not
lessened that superstitious confidence in saphies and charms, which he
had imbibed in his earlier years; for, when he heard that I was a
Christian, he immediately thought of procuring a saphie, and for this
purpose brought out his _walha_, or writing board, assuring me, that he
would dress me a supper of rice, if I would write him a saphie to protect
him from wicked men. The proposal was of too great consequence to me to
be refused; I therefore wrote the board full from top to bottom on both
sides; and my landlord, to be certain of having the whole force of the
charm, washed the writing from the board into a calabash with a little
water, and having said a few prayers over it, drank this powerful
draught; after which, lest a single word should escape, he licked the
board until it was quite dry. A saphie writer was a man of too great
consequence to be long concealed; the important information was carried
to the Dooty, who sent his son with half a sheet of writing paper,
desiring me to write him a _naphula saphie_ (a charm to procure wealth).
He brought me, as a present, some meal and milk; and when I had finished
the saphie, and read it to him with an audible voice, he seemed highly
satisfied with his bargain, and promised to bring me in the morning some
milk for my breakfast.
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