Ali, Therefore, Put Off
The Matter From Day To Day, But Withal Told Daman That If He Wished
To Purchase The Boy For Himself He Should Have Him Thereafter At The
Common Price Of A Slave, Which Daman Agreed To Pay For Him Whenever
Ali Should Send Him To Jarra.
The chief object of Ali, in this journey to Jarra, as I have already
related, was to procure money from such of the Kaartans as had taken
refuge in his country.
Some of these had solicited his protection
to avoid the horrors of war, but by far the greatest number of them
were dissatisfied men, who wished the ruin of their own sovereign.
These people no sooner heard that the Bambarra army had returned to
Sego without subduing Daisy, as was generally expected, than they
resolved to make a sudden attack themselves upon him before he could
recruit his forces, which were now known to be much diminished by a
bloody campaign, and in great want of provisions. With this view
they solicited the Moors to join them, and offered to hire of Ali
two hundred horsemen, which Ali, with the warmest professions of
friendship, agreed to furnish, upon condition that they should
previously supply him with four hundred head of cattle, two hundred
garments of blue cloth, and a considerable quantity of beads and
ornaments.
June 8. - In the afternoon Ali sent his chief slave to inform me that
he was about to return to Bubaker: but as he would only stay there
a few days to keep the approaching festival (Banna selee), and then
return to Jarra, I had permission to remain with Daman until his
return. This was joyful news to me; but I had experienced so many
disappointments that I was unwilling to indulge the hope of its
being true, until Johnson came and told me that Ali, with part of
the horsemen, were actually gone from the town, and that the rest
were to follow him in the morning.
June 9. - Early in the morning the remainder of the Moors departed
from the town. They had, during their stay, committed many acts of
robbery; and this morning with the most unparalleled audacity, they
seized upon three girls who were bringing water from the wells, and
carried them away into slavery.
June 12. - Two people, dreadfully wounded, were discovered at a
watering-place in the woods; one of them had just breathed his last,
but the other was brought alive to Jarra. On recovering a little he
informed the people that he had fled through the woods from Kasson;
that Daisy had made war upon Sambo, the king of that country; had
surprised three of his towns, and put all the inhabitants to the
sword. He enumerated by name many of the friends of the Jarra
people who had been murdered in Kasson. This intelligence made the
death-howl universal in Jarra for the space of two days.
This piece of bad news was followed by another not less distressing.
A number of runaway slaves arrived from Kaarta on the 14th, and
reported that Daisy, having received information concerning the
intended attack upon him, was about to visit Jarra. This made the
negroes call upon Ali for the two hundred horsemen which he was to
furnish them according to engagement. But Ali paid very little
attention to their remonstrances, and at last plainly told them that
his cavalry were otherwise employed. The negroes, thus deserted by
the Moors, and fully apprised that the king of Kaarta would show
them as little clemency as he had shown the inhabitants of Kasson,
resolved to collect all their forces, and hazard a battle before the
king, who was now in great distress for want of provisions, should
become too powerful for them. They therefore assembled about eight
hundred effective men in the whole, and with these they entered
Kaarta on the evening of the 18th of June.
June 19. - This morning the wind shifted to the south-west; and about
two o'clock in the afternoon we had a heavy tornado, or thunder-
squall, accompanied with rain, which greatly revived the face of
nature, and gave a pleasant coolness to the air. This was the first
rain that had fallen for many months.
As every attempt to redeem my boy had hitherto been unsuccessful,
and in all probability would continue to prove so whilst I remained
in the country, I found that it was necessary for me to come to some
determination concerning my own safety before the rains should be
fully set in; for my landlord, seeing no likelihood of being paid
for his trouble, began to wish me away - and Johnson, my interpreter,
refusing to proceed, my situation became very perplexing. I
determined to avail myself of the first opportunity of escaping, and
to proceed directly for Bambarra, as soon as the rains had set in
for a few days, so as to afford me the certainty of finding water in
the woods.
Such was my situation when, on the evening of the 24th of June, I
was startled by the report of some muskets close to the town, and
inquiring the reason, was informed that the Jarra army had returned
from fighting Daisy, and that this firing was by way of rejoicing.
However, when the chief men of the town had assembled, and heard a
full detail of the expedition, they were by no means relieved from
their uneasiness on Daisy's account. The deceitful Moors having
drawn back from the confederacy, after being hired by the negroes,
greatly dispirited the insurgents, who, instead of finding Daisy
with a few friends concealed in the strong fortress of Gedingooma,
had found him at a town near Joka, in the open country, surrounded
by so numerous an army that every attempt to attack him was at once
given up; and the confederates only thought of enriching themselves
by the plunder of the small towns in the neighbourhood. They
accordingly fell upon one of Daisy's towns, and carried off the
whole of the inhabitants; but lest intelligence of this might reach
Daisy, and induce him to cut off their retreat, they returned
through the woods by night bringing with them the slaves and cattle
which they had captured.
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