- We departed from the well early in the morning, and
walked on with the greatest alacrity, in hopes of reaching a town
before night.
The road during the forenoon led through extensive
thickets of dry bamboos. About two o'clock we came to a stream
called Nunkolo, where we were each of us regaled with a handful of
meal, which, according to a superstitious custom, was not to be
eaten until it was first moistened with water from this stream.
About four o'clock we reached Sooseeta, a small Jallonka village,
situated in the district of Kullo, which comprehends all that tract
of country lying along the banks of the Black River, or main branch
of the Senegal. These were the first human habitations we had seen
since we left the village to the westward of Kinytakooro, having
travelled in the course of the last five days upwards of one hundred
miles. Here, after a great deal of entreaty, we were provided with
huts to sleep in, but the master of the village plainly told us that
he could not give us any provisions, as there had lately been a
great scarcity in this part of the country. He assured us that,
before they had gathered in their present crops, the whole
inhabitants of Kullo had been for twenty-nine days without tasting
corn, during which time they supported themselves entirely upon the
yellow powder which is found in the pods of the nitta, so called by
the natives, a species of mimosa, and upon the seeds of the bamboo-
cane, which, when properly pounded and dressed, taste very much like
rice.
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