I Would Have Pointed Him Out Sooner To You,
But My Heart Was Too Full."
We reached Malacotta in the evening, where we were well received.
This is an unwalled town.
The huts for the most part are made of
split cane, twisted into a sort of wicker-work, and plastered over
with mud. Here we remained three days, and were each day presented
with a bullock from the schoolmaster. We were likewise well
entertained by the townspeople, who appear to be very active and
industrious. They make very good soap by boiling ground nuts in
water, and then adding a ley of wood-ashes. They likewise
manufacture excellent iron, which they carry to Bondou to barter for
salt. A party of the townspeople had lately returned from a trading
expedition of this kind, and brought information concerning a war
between Almami Abdulkader, king of Foota-Torra, and Damel, king of
the Jaloffs. The events of this war soon became a favourite subject
with the singing men and the common topic of conversation in all the
kingdoms bordering upon the Senegal and Gambia; and, as the account
is somewhat singular, I shall here abridge it for the reader's
information. The king of Foota-Torra, inflamed with a zeal for
propagating his religion, had sent an embassy to Damel similar to
that which he had sent to Kasson, as has been previously related.
The ambassador on the present occasion was accompanied by two of the
principal bushreens, who carried each a large knife fixed on the top
of a long pole.
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