By The
Niger Is Here Undoubtedly Meant The River Of Senegal, Which In The
Mandingo Language Is Bafing, Or The Black River.
To what extent these people are now spread over the African
continent it is difficult to ascertain.
There is reason to believe
that their dominion stretches from west to east, in a narrow line or
belt, from the mouth of the Senegal (on the northern side of that
river) to the confines of Abyssinia. They are a subtle and
treacherous race of people, and take every opportunity of cheating
and plundering the credulous and unsuspecting negroes. But their
manners and general habits of life will be best explained as
incidents occur in the course of my narrative.
The difficulties we had already encountered, the unsettled state of
the country, and, above all, the savage and overbearing deportment
of the Moors, had so completely frightened my attendants that they
declared they would rather relinquish every claim to reward than
proceed one step farther to the eastward. Indeed, the danger they
incurred of being seized by the Moors, and sold into slavery, became
every day more apparent; and I could not condemn their
apprehensions. In this situation, deserted by my attendants, and
reflecting that my retreat was cut off by the war behind me, and
that a Moorish country of ten days' journey lay before me, I applied
to Daman to obtain permission from Ali, the chief or sovereign of
Ludamar, that I might pass through his country unmolested into
Bambarra; and I hired one of Daman's slaves to accompany me thither,
as soon as such permission should be obtained.
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