The Boy Fortunately Awoke Before He Was Far From
The Village, And Setting Up A Loud Scream, The Man Who
Carried him put
his hand upon his mouth, and ran with him into the woods; but afterwards
understanding that he
Belonged to the schoolmaster, whose place of
residence is only three days' journey distant, he thought, I suppose,
that he could not retain him as a slave without the schoolmaster's
knowledge; and therefore stripped off the boy's clothes, and permitted
him to return.
April 28th. Early in the morning we departed from Sooseeta, and about ten
o'clock, came to an unwalled town called Manna, the inhabitants of which
were employed in collecting the fruit of the nitta trees, which are very
numerous in this neighbourhood. The pods are long and narrow, and contain
a few black seeds enveloped in the fine mealy powder before mentioned,
the meal itself is of a bright yellow colour, resembling the flour of
sulphur, and has a sweet mucilaginous taste; when eaten by itself it is
clammy, but when mixed with milk or water, it constitutes a very pleasant
and nourishing article of diet.
The language of the people of Manna is the same that is spoken all over
that extensive and hilly country called Jallonkadoo. Some of the words
have great affinity to the Mandingo, but the natives themselves consider
it as a distinct language. Their numerals are these: -
One _Kidding_.
Two _Fidding_.
Three _Sarra_.
Four _Nani_.
Five _Soolo_.
Six _Seni_.
Seven _Soolo ma fidding_.
Eight _Soolo ma sarra_.
Nine _Soolo ma nani_.
Ten _Nuff_.
The Jallonkas, like the Mandingoes, are governed by a number of petty
chiefs, who are in a great measure independent of each other: they have
no common sovereign; and the chiefs are seldom upon such terms of
friendship as to assist each other even in war time. The chief of Manna,
with a number of his people, accompanied us to the banks of the Bafing,
or Black river, (a principal branch of the Senegal,) which we crossed
upon a bridge of bamboos of a very singular construction. The river at
this place is smooth and deep, and has very little current. Two tall
trees, when tied together by the tops, are sufficiently long to reach
from one side to the other; the roots resting upon the rocks, and the
tops floating in the water. When a few trees have been placed in this
direction, they are covered with dry bamboos, so as to form a floating
bridge, with a sloping gangway at each end, where the trees rest upon the
rocks. This bridge is carried away every year by the swelling of the
river in the rainy season, and is constantly rebuilt by the inhabitants
of Manna, who, on that account, expect a small tribute from every
passenger.
In the afternoon we passed several villages, at none of which could we
procure a lodging; and in the twilight we received information that two
hundred Jallonkas had assembled near a town called Melo, with a view to
plunder the coffle. This induced us to alter our course, and we travelled
with great secrecy until midnight, when we approached a town called Koba.
Before we entered the town, the names of all the people belonging to the
coffle were called over, and a freeman and three slaves were found to be
missing. Every person immediately concluded that the slaves had murdered
the freeman, and made their escape. It was therefore agreed that six
people should go back as far as the last village, and endeavour to find
his body, or collect some information concerning the slaves. In the
meantime the coffle was ordered to lie concealed in a cotton field near a
large nitta tree, and nobody to speak except in a whisper. It was towards
morning before the six men returned, having heard nothing of the man or
the slaves. As none of us had tasted victuals for the last twenty-four
hours, it was agreed that we should go into Koba, and endeavour to
procure some provisions. We accordingly entered the town before it was
quite day, and Karfa purchased from the chief man, for three strings of
beads, a considerable quantity of ground nuts, which we roasted and ate
for breakfast; we were afterwards provided with huts, and rested here for
the day.
About eleven o'clock, to our great joy and surprise, the freeman and
slaves, who had parted from the coffle the preceding night, entered the
town. One of the slaves, it seems, had hurt his foot, and the night being
very dark, they soon lost sight of the coffle. The freeman, as soon as he
found himself alone with the slaves, was aware of his own danger, and
insisted on putting them in irons. The slaves were at first rather
unwilling to submit, but when he threatened to stab them one by one with
his spear, they made no further resistance; and he remained with them
among the bushes until morning, when he let them out of irons, and came
to the town in hopes of hearing which route the coffle had taken. The
information that we received concerning the Jallonkas, who intended to
rob the coffle, was this day confirmed, and we were forced to remain here
until the afternoon of the 30th; when Karfa hired a number of people to
protect us, and we proceeded to a village called Tinkingtang. Departing
from this village on the day following, we crossed a high ridge of
mountains to the west of the Black river, and travelled over a rough
stony country until sunset, when we arrived at Lingicotta, a small
village in the district of Woradoo. Here we shook out the last handful of
meal from our dry provision bags; this being the second day (since we
crossed the Black river) that we had travelled from morning until night,
without tasting one morsel of food.
May 2d. We departed from Lingicotta; but the slaves being very much
fatigued, we halted for the night at a village about nine miles to the
westward, and procured some provisions through the interest of the
schoolmaster; who now sent forward a messenger to Malacotta, his native
town, to inform his friends of his arrival in the country, and to desire
them to provide the necessary quantity of victuals to entertain the
coffle for two or three days.
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