The Honey Which They Collect Is Chiefly Used By Themselves In
Making A Strong Intoxicating Liquor, Much The Same As The Mead Which Is
Produced From Honey In Great Britain.
In their traffic with Europeans, the Feloops generally employ a factor or
agent, of the Mandingo nation, who speaks a little English, and is
acquainted with the trade of the river.
This broker makes the bargain;
and, with the connivance of the European, receives a certain part only of
the payment, which he gives to his employer as the whole; the remainder
(which is very truly called the cheating money) he receives when the
Feloop is gone, and appropriates to himself, as a reward for his trouble.
The language of the Feloops is appropriate and peculiar; and as their
trade is chiefly conducted, as hath been observed, by Mandingoes, the
Europeans have no inducement to learn it. The numerals are as follow:
One ......... _Enory_.
Two ......... _Sickaba_, or _Cookaba_.
Three ....... _Sisajee_.
Four ........ _Sibakeer_.
Five ........ _Footuck_.
Six ......... _Footuck-Enory_.
Seven ....... _Footuck-Cookaba_.
Eight ....... _Footuck-Sisajee_.
Nine ........ _Footuck-Sibakeer_.
Ten ......... Sibankonyen.
On the 26th we left Vintain, and continued our course up the river,
anchoring whenever the tide failed us, and frequently towing the vessel
with the boat. The river is deep and muddy; the banks are covered with
impenetrable thickets of mangrove; and the whole of the adjacent country
appears to be flat and swampy.
The Gambia abounds with fish, some species of which are excellent food;
but none of them that I recollect are known in Europe. At the entrance
from the sea, sharks are found in great abundance; and higher up,
alligators and the hippopotamus (or river-horse) are very numerous. The
latter might with more propriety be called the river-elephant, being of
an enormous and unwieldy bulk, and its teeth furnish good ivory. This
animal is amphibious, with short and thick legs, and cloven hoofs: it
feeds on grass, and such shrubs as the banks of the river afford, boughs
of trees, seldom venturing far from the water, in which it seeks refuge
on hearing the approach of man. I have seen many, and always found them
of a timid and inoffensive disposition.
In six days after leaving Vintain, we reached Jonkakonda, a place of
considerable trade, where our vessel was to take in part of her lading.
The next morning, the several European traders came from their different
factories to receive their letters and learn the nature and amount of the
cargo; and the captain dispatched a messenger to Dr. Laidley to inform him
of my arrival. He came to Jonkakonda the morning following, when I
delivered him Mr. Beaufoy's letter, and he gave me a kind invitation to
spend my time at his house until an opportunity should offer of
prosecuting my journey. This invitation was too acceptable to be refused,
and being furnished by the Doctor with a horse and guide, I set out from
Jonkakonda at daybreak on the 5th of July, and at eleven o'clock arrived
at Pisania, where I was accommodated with a room and other conveniences
in the Doctor's house.
Pisania is a small village in the King of Yany's dominions, established
by British subjects as a factory for trade, and inhabited solely by them
and their black servants. It is situated on the banks of the Gambia,
sixteen miles above Jonkakonda. The white residents, at the time of my
arrival there, consisted only of Dr. Laidley and two gentlemen who were
brothers, of the name of Ainsley; but their domestics were numerous. They
enjoyed perfect security under the king's protection, and being highly
esteemed and respected by the natives at large, wanted no accommodation
or comfort which the country could supply; and the greatest part of the
trade in slaves, ivory, and gold, was in their hands.
Being now settled for some time at my ease, my first object was to learn
the Mandingo tongue, being the language in almost general use throughout
this part of Africa; and without which I was fully convinced that I never
could acquire an extensive knowledge of the country or its inhabitants.
In this pursuit I was greatly assisted by Dr. Laidley, who, by a long
residence in the country, and constant intercourse with the natives, had
made himself completely master of it. Next to the language, my great
object was to collect information concerning the countries I intended to
visit. On this occasion I was referred to certain traders called Slatees.
These are free black merchants, of great consideration in this part of
Africa, who come down from the interior countries chiefly with enslaved
negroes for sale; but I soon discovered that very little dependance could
be placed on the accounts they gave; for they contradicted each other in
the most important particulars, and all of them seemed extremely
unwilling that I should prosecute my journey. These circumstances
increased my anxiety to ascertain the truth from my own personal
observations.
In researches of this kind, and in observing the manners and customs of
the natives, in a country so little known to the nations of Europe, and
furnished with so many striking and uncommon objects of nature, my time
passed not unpleasantly; and I began to flatter myself that I had escaped
the fever, or seasoning, to which Europeans, on their first arrival in
hot climates, are generally subject. But, on the 3d of July, I
imprudently exposed myself to the night dew, in observing an eclipse of
the moon, with a view to determine the longitude of the place; the next
day I found myself attacked with a smart fever and delirium; and such an
illness followed, as confined me to the house during the greatest part of
August. My recovery was very slow; but I embraced every short interval of
convalescence to walk out and make myself acquainted with the productions
of the country. In one of those excursions, having rambled farther than
usual, in a hot day, I brought on a return of my fever, and on the 10th
of September I was again confined to my bed.
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