The Person, Who Receives An Audience
Continues In This Humble Posture A Great While, Strewing Himself With Sand
And Crawling
On his knees, till he approaches the great man; and when
within two paces of his lord, he stops and
Begins to relate his case,
still continuing on his knees, with his head down, and throwing sand an
his head in token of great humility. All the time the lord scarcely
appears to notice him and continues to discourse with other persons; and
when the vassal has related his story, the lord gives him an answer in two
words, with an arrogant aspect. Such is their affected pride and grandeur,
and such the submission which is shewn him, which, in my opinion, proceeds
from fear, as their lords, for every little fault they commit, take away
their wives and children, and cause them to be sold as slaves.
Budomel treated me with the utmost attention and civility, and used to
carry me in the evenings into a sort of mosque, where the Arab and
Azanhaji priests, whom he had always about his person, used to say prayers.
His manner on these occasions was as follows. Being entered into the
mosque, which was in one of the courts belonging to his residence, and
where he was attended by some of the principal negroes, he first stood
some little time with his eyes lifted up as if it were to heaven, then,
advancing two steps, he spoke a few words in a low tone; after which, he
stretched himself on the ground, which he kissed; the Azanhaji and the
rest of his attendants doing the same. Then rising up, he repeated the
same series of actions repeatedly, for ten or twelve times, which occupied
about half an hour. When all was over, he asked my opinion of their manner
of worship, and desired one to give an account of the nature of our
religion. On this I told him, in the presence of all his doctors, that the
religion of Mahomet was false, and the Romish the only true faith. This
made the Arabs and Azanhaji extremely angry; but Budomel laughed on the
occasion, and said, that he considered the religion of the Christians to
be good, as God alone could have gifted them with so much riches and
understanding. He added, however, that in his opinion the Mahometan law
must be good also; and he believed, that the Negroes were more sure of
salvation than the Christians, because God was just, who had given a
paradise to the Christians in this world, and would certainly give one to
the Negroes in the next, as they possessed scarcely any good in this world
in comparison. In all his discourse he shewed a good understanding, and
took great pleasure in hearing the customs of the Christians described. I
firmly believe he might easily have been converted to Christianity, had it
not been from fear of losing his power, as I was often told by his nephew,
with whom I lodged, and he took great delight in hearing me discourse of
our religion. The table of Budomel, like all other lords and people of
condition in this country, is supplied by his wives, in the same manner as
has been already mentioned in regard to Zukholin, the king of Senegal;
each wife sending him a certain number of dishes every day. He and the
other lords eat on the ground, without any regularity or company, except
the Arabs and Azanhaji, who are their teachers and priests, and one or two
of their principal negro attendants. The inferior people eat in messes of
ten or twelve each, having a basket full of victuals set in the midst,
into which all put their hands at the same time. They eat but little at
one meal, but repeat these four or five times a day.
[1] The text seems corrupted in giving so large a distance between the
Senegal river and this country of king Budomel, as 800 miles to the
south, or rather S. S. E. would carry us to what is called the _grain_,
or windward coast of Guinea, in lat. 6 deg. N. and, from the sequel, Cada
Mosto does not appear to have passed Cape Verd till after quitting the
country of Budomel. According to Brue, as quoted by Clarke, the king
of Kayor or Kayhor was styled Damel. Kayor or Cayor appears on our
maps above an hundred miles up the Senegal, and on its north side,
which therefore can have no reference to the place in the text. I am
disposed to believe, that the distance in the text ought only to have
been 80 miles, and that the territory of Budomel was in the country of
the Jalofs, between the Senegal and Cape Verd, at the mouth of a small
river, on which our charts place two towns, Masaye and Enibaul, in lat.
15 deg. 20' N. - E.
[2] The grosso, or Venetian groat, is worth about three farthings. - Astl.
SECTION VI.
_Account of the Country of Budomel continued_.
On account of the great heats in the kingdom of Senegal, and all the
other countries of the Negroes on the coast, no wheat, rye, barley, or
spelt, can grow, neither are vines cultivated, as we knew experimentally
from a trial made with seeds from our ship: For wheat, and these other
articles of culture, require a temperate climate and frequent showers,
both of which are wanting here, where they have no rains during nine
months of the year, from October to June both included. But they have
large and small millet, beans, and the largest and finest kidney beans in
the world, as large as hazle nuts, longer than those of the Venetian
territory, and beautifully speckled with various colours as if painted.
Their beans are large, flat, and of a lively red colour, and they have
likewise white beans. They sow in July, at the beginning of the rains,
and reap in September, when they cease; thus they prepare the soil, sow
the seed, and get in the harvest, all in three months; but they are bad
husbandmen, and so exceedingly averse to labour, that they sow no more
than is barely sufficient to last them throughout the year, and never lay
up any store for sale.
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