We Then Hoisted Sail, And
Proceeded, Glad That The Affair Had Been Amicably Settled.
Those on
shore walked up to the bend above to look at the boat, as we
supposed; but the moment she was abreast of them, they gave us a
volley of musket-balls and poisoned arrows, without a word of
warning.
Fortunately we were so near, that all the arrows passed
clear over us, but four musket-balls went through the sail just above
our heads. All our assailants bolted into the bushes and long grass
the instant after firing, save two, one of whom was about to
discharge a musket and the other an arrow, when arrested by the fire
of the second boat. Not one of them showed their faces again, till
we were a thousand yards away. A few shots were then fired over
their heads, to give them an idea of the range of our rifles, and
they all fled into the woods. Those on the sandbank rushed off too,
with the utmost speed; but as they had not shot at us, we did not
molest them, and they went off safely with their cloth. They
probably expected to kill one of our number, and in the confusion rob
the boats. It is only where the people are slavers that the natives
of this part of Africa are bloodthirsty.
These people have a bad name in the country in front, even among
their own tribe. A slave-trading Arab we met above, thinking we were
then on our way down the river, advised us not to land at the
villages, but to stay in the boats, as the inhabitants were
treacherous, and attacked at once, without any warning or
provocation. Our experience of their conduct fully confirmed the
truth of what he said. There was no trade on the river where they
lived, but beyond that part there was a brisk canoe-trade in rice and
salt; those further in the interior cultivating rice, and sending it
down the river to be exchanged for salt, which is extracted from the
earth in certain places on the banks. Our assailants hardly
anticipated resistance, and told a neighbouring chief that, if they
had known who we were, they would not have attacked English, who can
"bite hard." They offered no molestations on our way down, though we
were an hour in passing their village. Our canoe-men plucked up
courage on finding that we had come off unhurt. One of them, named
Chiku, acknowledging that he had been terribly frightened, said.
"His fear was not the kind which makes a man jump overboard and run
away; but that which brings the heart up to the mouth, and renders
the man powerless, and no more able to fight than a woman."
In the country of Chonga Michi, about 80 or 90 miles up the river, we
found decent people, though of the same tribe, who treated strangers
with civility. A body of Makoa had come from their own country in
the south, and settled here.
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