About Sunset We Came In Sight Of
Kinytakooro, A Considerable Town, Nearly Square, Situated In The
Middle Of A Large And Well-Cultivated Plain:
Before we entered the
town, we halted until the people who had fallen behind came up.
During this day's
Travel two slaves, a woman and a girl, belonging
to a slates of Bala, were so much fatigued that they could not keep
up with the coffle; they were severely whipped, and dragged along
until about three o'clock in the afternoon, when they were both
affected with vomiting, by which it was discovered that they had
EATEN clay. This practice is by no means uncommon amongst the
negroes; but whether it arises from a vitiated appetite, or from a
settled intention to destroy themselves, I cannot affirm. They were
permitted to lie down in the woods, and three people remained with
them until they had rested themselves; but they did not arrive at
the town until past midnight, and were then so much exhausted that
the slatee gave up all thoughts of taking them across the woods in
their present condition, and determined to return with them to Bala
and wait for another opportunity.
As this was the first town beyond the limits of Manding, greater
etiquette than usual was observed. Every person was ordered to keep
in his proper station, and we marched towards the town in a sort of
procession nearly as follows:- In front five or six singing men, all
of them belonging to the coffle; these were followed by the other
free people; then came the slaves, fastened in the usual way by a
rope round their necks, four of them to a rope, and a man with a
spear between each four; after them came the domestic slaves; and in
the rear the women of free condition, wives of the slatees, etc.
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