The King's People, Taking It For Granted
That They Were Runaway Slaves, Cocked Their Muskets, And Rode At
Full Speed In Different Directions Through The Bushes, In Order To
Surround Them, And Prevent Their Escaping.
The negroes, however,
waited with great composure until we came within bowshot of them,
when each of them took
From his quiver a handful of arrows, and
putting two between his teeth and one in his bow, waved to us with
his hand to keep at a distance; upon which one of the king's people
called out to the strangers to give some account of themselves.
They said that "they were natives of Toorda, a neighbouring village,
and had come to that place to gather tomberongs." These are small
farinaceous berries, of a yellow colour and delicious taste, which I
knew to be the fruit of the rhamnus lotus of Linnaeus.
The lotus is very common in all the kingdoms which I visited; but is
found in the greatest plenty on the sandy soil of Kaarta, Ludamar,
and the northern parts of Bambarra, where it is one of the most
common shrubs of the country. I had observed the same species at
Gambia.
As this shrub is found in Tunis, and also in the negro kingdoms, and
as it furnishes the natives of the latter with a food resembling
bread, and also with a sweet liquor which is much relished by them,
there can be little doubt of its being the lotus mentioned by Pliny
as the food of the Libyan Lotophagi.
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