I Confess I Was Somewhat
Startled, Thinking It Was A Signal For Some Of His Companions To
Come And Attack Us; But He Assured Me That It Was Done Merely With A
View To Ascertain What Success We Were Likely To Meet With On Our
Present Journey.
He then dismounted, laid his spear across the
road, and having said a number of short prayers, concluded with
Three loud whistles; after which he listened for some time, as if in
expectation of an answer, and receiving none, told us we might
proceed without fear, for there was no danger. About noon we passed
a number of large villages quite deserted, the inhabitants having
fled into Kasson to avoid the horrors of war. We reached Karankalla
at sunset. This formerly was a large town, but having been
plundered by the Bambarrans about four years ago, nearly one-half of
it is still in ruins.
February 12. - At daylight we departed from Karankalla, and as it was
but a short day's journey to Kemmoo, we travelled slower than usual,
and amused ourselves by collecting such eatable fruits as grew near
the road-side. About noon we saw at a distance the capital of
Kaarta, situated in the middle of an open plain - the country for two
miles round being cleared of wood, by the great consumption of that
article for building and fuel - and we entered the town about two
o'clock in the afternoon.
We proceeded without stopping to the court before the king's
residence; but I was so completely surrounded by the gazing
multitude that I did not attempt to dismount, but sent in the
landlord and Madi Konki's son, to acquaint the king of my arrival.
In a little time they returned, accompanied by a messenger from the
king, signifying that he would see me in the evening; and in the
meantime the messenger had orders to procure me a lodging and see
that the crowd did not molest me. He conducted me into a court, at
the door of which he stationed a man with a stick in his hand to
keep off the mob, and then showed me a large hut in which I was to
lodge. I had scarcely seated myself in this spacious apartment when
the mob entered; it was found impossible to keep them out, and I was
surrounded by as many as the hut could contain. When the first
party, however, had seen me, and asked a few questions, they retired
to make room for another company; and in this manner the hut was
filled and emptied thirteen different times.
A little before sunset the king sent to inform me that he was at
leisure, and wished to see me. I followed the messenger through a
number of courts surrounded with high walls, where I observed plenty
of dry grass, bundled up like hay, to fodder the horses, in case the
town should be invested. On entering the court in which the king
was sitting I was astonished at the number of his attendants, and at
the good order that seemed to prevail among them; they were all
seated - the fighting men on the king's right hand and the women and
children on the left, leaving a space between them for my passage.
The king, whose name was Daisy Koorabarri, was not to be
distinguished from his subjects by any superiority in point of
dress; a bank of earth, about two feet high, upon which was spread a
leopard's skin, constituted the only mark of royal dignity. When I
had seated myself upon the ground before him, and related the
various circumstances that had induced me to pass through his
country, and my reasons for soliciting his protections, he appeared
perfectly satisfied; but said it was not in his power at present to
afford me much assistance, for that all sort of communication
between Kaarta and Bambarra had been interrupted for some time past;
and as Mansong, the king of Bambarra, with his army, had entered
Fooladoo in his way to Kaarta, there was but little hope of my
reaching Bambarra by any of the usual routes, inasmuch as, coming
from an enemy's country, I should certainly be plundered, or taken
for a spy. If his country had been at peace, he said, I might have
remained with him until a more favourable opportunity offered; but,
as matters stood at present, he did not wish me to continue in
Kaarta, for fear some accident should befall me, in which case my
countrymen might say that he had murdered a white man. He would
therefore advise me to return into Kasson, and remain there until
the war should terminate, which would probably happen in the course
of three or four months, after which, if he was alive, he said, he
would be glad to see me, and if he was dead his sons would take care
of me.
This advice was certainly well meant on the part of the king, and
perhaps I was to blame in not following it; but I reflected that the
hot months were approaching, and I dreaded the thoughts of spending
the rainy season in the interior of Africa. These considerations,
and the aversion I felt at the idea of returning without having made
a greater progress in discovery, made sue determine to go forward;
and though the king could not give me a guide to Bambarra, I begged
that he would allow a man to accompany me as near the frontiers of
his kingdom as was consistent with safety. Finding that I was
determined to proceed, the king told me that one route still
remained, but that, he said, was by no means free from danger - which
was to go from Kaarta into the Moorish kingdom of Ludamar, from
whence I might pass by a circuitous route into Bambarra. If I
wished to follow this route he would appoint people to conduct me to
Jarra, the frontier town of Ludamar.
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