The Foulahs use the milk chiefly as an
article of diet, and that not until it is quite sour. The cream
which it affords is very thick, and is converted into butter by
stirring it violently in a large calabash. This butter, when melted
over a gentle fire, and freed from impurities, is preserved in small
earthen pots, and forms a part in most of their dishes; it serves
likewise to anoint their heads, and is bestowed very liberally on
their faces and arms.
But although milk is plentiful, it is somewhat remarkable that the
Foulahs, and indeed all the inhabitants of this part of Africa, are
totally unacquainted with the art of making cheese. A firm
attachment to the customs of their ancestors makes them view with an
eye of prejudice everything that looks like innovation. The heat of
the climate and the great scarcity of salt are held forth as
unanswerable objections; and the whole process appears to them too
long and troublesome to be attended with any solid advantage.
Besides the cattle, which constitute the chief wealth of the
Foulahs, they possess some excellent horses, the breed of which
seems to be a mixture of the Arabian with the original African.
CHAPTER V - FROM KAJAAGA TO KASSON
The kingdom of Kajaaga, in which I was now arrived, is called by the
French Gallam, but the name that I have adopted is universally used
by the natives. This country is bounded on the south-east and south
by Bambouk, on the west by Bondou and Foota-Torra, and on the north
by the river Senegal.
The air and climate are, I believe, more pure and salubrious than at
any of the settlements towards the coast; the face of the country is
everywhere interspersed with a pleasing variety of hills and
valleys; and the windings of the Senegal river, which descends from
the rocky hills of the interior, make the scenery on its banks very
picturesque and beautiful.
The inhabitants are called Serawoollies, or (as the French write it)
Seracolets. Their complexion is a jet black: they are not to be
distinguished in this respect from the Jaloffs.
The government is monarchical, and the regal authority, from what I
experienced of it, seems to be sufficiently formidable. The people
themselves, however, complain of no oppression, and seemed all very
anxious to support the king in a contest he was going to enter into
with the sovereign of Kasson. The Serawoollies are habitually a
trading people; they formerly carried on a great commerce with the
French in gold and slaves, and still maintain some traffic in slaves
with the British factories on the Gambia. They are reckoned
tolerably fair and just in their dealings, but are indefatigable in
their exertions to acquire wealth, and they derive considerable
profits by the sale of salt and cotton cloth in distant countries.
When a Serawoolli merchant returns home from a trading expedition
the neighbours immediately assemble to congratulate him upon his
arrival. On these occasions the traveller displays his wealth and
liberality by making a few presents to his friends; but if he has
been unsuccessful his levee is soon over, and every one looks upon
him as a man of no understanding, who could perform a long journey,
and (at they express it) "bring back nothing but the hair upon his
head."
Their language abounds much in gutturals, and is not so harmonious
as that spoken by the Foulahs. It is, however, well worth acquiring
by those who travel through this part of the African continent, it
being very generally understood in the kingdoms of Kasson, Kaarta,
Ludamar, and the northern parts of Bambarra. In all these countries
the Serawoollies are the chief traders. Their numerals are:-
One, Bani.
Two, Fillo.
Three, Sicco.
Four, Narrato.
Five, Karrago.
Six, Toomo.
Seven, Nero.
Eight, Sego.
Nine, Kabbo.
Ten, Tamo.
Twenty, Tamo di Fillo.
We arrived at Joag, the frontier town of this kingdom, on the 24th
of December, and took up our residence at the house of the chief
man, who is here no longer known by the title of alkaid, but is
called the dooty. He was a rigid Mohammedan, but distinguished for
his hospitality. This town may be supposed, on a gross computation,
to contain two thousand inhabitants. It is surrounded by a high
wall, in which are a number of port-holes, for musketry to fire
through, in case of an attack. Every man's possession is likewise
surrounded by a wall, the whole forming so many distinct citadels;
and amongst a people unacquainted with the use of artillery these
walls answer all the purposes of stronger fortifications. To the
westward of the town is a small river, on the banks of which the
natives raise great plenty of tobacco and onions.
The same evening Madiboo, the bushreen, who had accompanied me from
Pisania, went to pay a visit to his father and mother, who dwelt at
a neighbouring town called Dramanet. He was joined by my other
attendant, the blacksmith. As soon as it was dark I was invited to
see the sports of the inhabitants, it being their custom, on the
arrival of strangers, to welcome them by diversions of different
kinds. I found a great crowd surrounding a party who were dancing,
by the light of some large fires, to the music of four drums, which
were beat with great exactness and uniformity. The dances, however,
consisted more in wanton gestures than in muscular exertion or
graceful attitudes. The ladies vied with each other in displaying
the most voluptuous movements imaginable.
December 25. - About two o'clock in the morning a number of horsemen
came into the town, and, having awakened my landlord, talked to him
for some time in the Serawoolli tongue; after which they dismounted
and came to the bentang, on which I had made my bed.
