After Telling Him That He Might Sleep Without Apprehension, She Called To The Female Part Of The Family, Who Stood Gazing In Fixed Astonishment, To Resume Their Task Of Spinning Cotton, In Which They Employed Themselves The Greater Part Of The Night.

They lightened their labours by songs, one of which at least was extempore, as their guest was the subject of it. It was sung by one of the young women, the rest joining in chorus. The air was sweet and plaintive, and the words, literally translated, were as follow:

-

"The winds roared, and the rains fell; The poor white man, faint and weary, came and sat under our tree. He has no mother to bring him milk - no wife to grind his corn.

CHORUS.

Let us pity the white man, no mother has he." &c.

This circumstance was to Mr. Park, affecting in the highest degree. He was oppressed by such unexpected kindness, and the sleep fled from his eyes. In the morning he presented his compassionate landlady with two of the four buttons which remained on his waistcoat, the only recompense which he had in his power. Mr. Park remained in the village the whole of July the 21st, in conversation with the natives. Towards evening he grew uneasy, to find that no message arrived from the king, the more so, when he learned from the villagers, that the Moors and Slatees, resident at Sego, had given Mansong very unfavourable accounts of him, that many consultations had been held concerning his reception and disposal; that he had many enemies, and must expect no favour. On the following day, a messenger arrived from the king, who inquired if Mr. Park had brought any present, and seemed much disappointed, on being told that he had been robbed of all his effects by the Moors. When Mr. Park proposed to go to court, he said he must stop until the afternoon, when the king would send for him. It was the afternoon of the next day, however, before another messenger arrived from Mansong, who told Mr. Park, it was the king's pleasure he should depart immediately from the environs of Sego, but that Mansong, wishing to relieve a white man in distress, had sent five thousand kowries [*] to him to continue his journey, and if it were his intention to proceed to Jenne, he (the messenger) had orders to guide him to Sansanding. Mr. Park concludes his account of this adventure in the following words: -

[Footnote: Kowries are little shells, which pass current as money, in many parts of the East Indies as well as in Africa. Mr. Park estimates about 250 kowries equal to one shilling. One hundred of them would purchase a day's provision for himself and corn for his horse.]

"I was at first puzzled to account for this behaviour of the king, but from the conversation I had with the guide, I had afterwards reason to believe, that Mansong would willingly have admitted me into his presence at Sego, but was apprehensive he might not be able to protect me against the blind and inveterate malice of the moorish inhabitants. His conduct, therefore, was at once prudent and liberal. The circumstances, under which I made my appearance at Sego, were undoubtedly such as might create in the mind of the king a well-warranted suspicion, that I wished to conceal the true object of my journey. He argued, probably as my guide argued, who, when he was told that I was come from a great distance, and through many dangers, to behold the Joliba (Niger) river, naturally inquired if there were no rivers in my own country, and whether one river was not like another? Notwithstanding this, and in spite of the jealous machinations of the Moors, this benevolent prince thought it sufficient, that a white man was found in his dominions in a condition of extreme wretchedness, and that no other plea was necessary to entitle the sufferer to his bounty."

Being thus obliged to leave Sego, Mr. Park was conducted the same evening to a village, about seven miles eastward, where he and his guide were well received, as Mr. Park had learned to speak the Bambarra tongue without difficulty. The guide was very friendly and communicative, and spoke highly of the hospitality of his countrymen; but he informed Mr. Park, that if Jenne was the place of his destination, he had undertaken a very dangerous enterprise, and that Timbuctoo, the great object of his search, was altogether in possession of the Moors, who would not allow any Christians to reside in it. In the evening they passed a large town called Kabba, situated in the midst of a beautiful and highly cultivated country, bearing a great resemblance to the centre of England.

In the course of the following day, they arrived at Sansanding, a large town, containing 10,000 inhabitants, much frequented by the Moors, in their commercial dealings. Mr. Park desired his guide to conduct him to the house where they were to lodge, by the most private way possible They accordingly rode along between the town and the river, and the negroes, whom they met, took Mr. Park for a Moor, but a Moor, who was sitting by the river side, discovered the mistake, and, making a loud exclamation, brought together a number of his countrymen; and when Mr. Park arrived at the house of the dooty, he was surrounded by a number of people, speaking a variety of dialects. By the assistance of his guide, however, who acted as interpreter, Mr. Park at length understood that one of the Moors pretended to have seen him at one place, and another at some other place; and a Moorish woman absolutely swore, that she had kept his house three years at Gallam on the river Senegal. The Moors now questioned Mr. Park about his religion, but finding he was not master of the Arabic, they sent for two Jews, in hopes that they might be able to converse with him.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 39 of 302
Words from 39012 to 40019 of 309561