We Lodged At
One Of Them, Called Koba Tenda, Where We Remained The Day Following,
In Order To Procure Provisions For Our Support In Crossing The
Simbani Woods.
On the 30th we reached Jallacotta, a considerable
town, but much infested by Foulah banditti, who come through the
Woods from Bondou and steal everything they can lay their hands on.
A few days before our arrival they had stolen twenty head of cattle,
and on the day following made a second attempt, but were beaten off
and one of them was taken prisoner. Here one of the slaves
belonging to the coffle, who had travelled with great difficulty for
the last three days, was found unable to proceed any farther: his
master (a singing man) proposed therefore to exchange him for a
young slave girl belonging to one of the townspeople. The poor girl
was ignorant of her fate until the bundles were all tied up in the
morning, and the coffle ready to depart, when, coming with some
other young women to see the coffle set out, her master took her by
the hand, and delivered her to the singing man. Never was a face of
serenity more suddenly changed into one of the deepest distress; the
terror she manifested on having the load put upon her head and the
rope fastened round her neck, and the sorrow with which she bade
adieu to her companions, were truly affecting. About nine o'clock
we crossed a large plain covered with ciboa-trees (a species of
palm), and came to the river Nerico, a branch of the Gambia.
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