The Slatees Immediately Put Them All In Irons; And Such Of
Them As Had Evinced Signs Of Great Despondency Were Kept Apart From The
Rest, And Had Their Hands Tied.
In the morning they were found greatly
recovered.
April 25th. At daybreak poor Nealee was awakened, but her limbs were now
so stiff and painful, that she could neither walk nor stand; she was
therefore lifted, like a corpse, upon the back of the ass, and the
Slatees endeavoured to secure her in that situation, by fastening her
hands together under the ass's neck and her feet under the belly, with
long slips of bark; but the ass was so very unruly, that no sort of
treatment could induce him to proceed with his load; and as Nealee made
no exertion to prevent herself from falling, she was quickly thrown off,
and had one of her legs much bruised. Every attempt to carry her forward
being thus found ineffectual, the general cry of the coffle was,
_kang-tegi, kang-tegi_, "cut her throat, cut her throat;" an operation I
did not wish to see performed, and therefore marched onwards with the
foremost of the coffle. I had not walked above a mile, when one of
Karfa's domestic slaves came up to me, with poor Nealee's garment upon
the end of his bow, and exclaimed, _Nealee affeeleeta_, (Nealee is lost.)
I asked him whether the Slatees had given him the garment as a reward for
cutting her throat; he replied, that Karfa and the schoolmaster would not
consent to that measure, but had left her on the road, where undoubtedly
she soon perished, and was probably devoured by wild beasts.
The sad fate of this wretched woman, notwithstanding the outcry before
mentioned, made a strong impression on the minds of the whole coffle, and
the schoolmaster fasted the whole of the ensuing day, in consequence of
it. We proceeded in deep silence, and soon afterward crossed the river
Furkoomah, which was about as large as the river Wonda. We now travelled
with great expedition, every one being apprehensive he might otherwise
meet with the fate of poor Nealee. It was, however, with great difficulty
that I could keep up, although I threw away my spear, and every thing
that could in the least obstruct me. About noon we saw a large herd of
elephants, but they suffered us to pass unmolested, and in the evening we
halted near a thicket of bamboo, but found no water; so that we were
forced to proceed four miles farther, to a small stream, where we stopt
for the night. We had marched this day, as I judged, about twenty-six
miles.
April 26th. This morning two of the schoolmaster's pupils complained much
of pains in their legs, and one of the slaves walked lame, the soles of
his feet being very much blistered and inflamed; we proceeded,
notwithstanding, and about eleven o'clock began to ascend a rocky hill
called Boki-Kooro, and it was past two in the afternoon before we reached
the level ground on the other side. This was the most rocky road we had
yet encountered, and it hurt our feet much. In a short time we arrived at
a pretty large river called Boki, which we forded: it ran smooth and
clear, over a bed of whinstone. About a mile to the westward of the
river, we came to a road which leads to the north-east towards Gadou, and
seeing the marks of many horses' feet upon the soft sand, the Slatees
conjectured that a party of plunderers had lately rode that way, to fall
upon some town of Gadou; and lest they should discover, upon their
return, that we had passed, and attempt to pursue us by the marks of our
feet, the coffle was ordered to disperse, and travel in a loose manner
through the high grass and bushes. A little before it was dark, having
crossed the ridge of hills to the westward of the river Boki, we came to
a well called _culleng qui_, (white sand well,) and here we rested for
the night.
April 27th. We departed from the well early in the morning, and walked on
with the greatest alacrity, in hopes of reaching a town before night. The
road, during the forenoon, led through extensive thickets of dry bamboos.
About two o'clock we came to a stream called Nunkolo, where we were each
of us regaled with a handful of meal, which, according to a superstitious
custom, was not to be eaten until it was first moistened with water from
this stream. About four o'clock we reached Sooseeta, a small Jallonka
village, situated in the district of Kullo, which comprehends all that
tract of country lying along the banks of the Black river, or main branch
of the Senegal. These were the first human habitations we had seen since
we left the village to the westward of Kinytakooro; having travelled in
the course of the last five days upwards of one hundred miles. Here,
after a great deal of entreaty, we were provided with huts to sleep in;
but the master of the village plainly told us that he could not give us
any provisions, as there had lately been a great scarcity in this part of
the country. He assured us, that before they had gathered in their
present crops, the whole inhabitants of Kullo had been for twenty-nine
days without tasting corn; during which time, they supported themselves
entirely upon the yellow powder which is found in the pods of the
_nitta_, so called by the natives, a species of mimosa; and upon the
seeds of the bamboo cane, which, when properly pounded and dressed, taste
very much like rice. As our dry provisions were not yet exhausted, a
considerable quantity of kouskous was dressed for supper, and many of the
villagers were invited to take part of the repast; but they made a very
bad return for this kindness; for in the night they seized upon one of
the schoolmaster's boys, who had fallen asleep under the Bentang tree,
and carried him away.
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