He Remarked That When A
Caravan Of The Natives Could Not Travel Through The Country It Was
Idle For A Single White Man To Attempt It.
I readily admitted that
such an attempt was an act of rashness, but I assured him that I had
no alternative, for, having no money to support myself, I must
either beg my subsistence by travelling from place to place, or
perish for want.
Karfa now looked at me with great earnestness, and
inquired if I could eat the common victuals of the country, assuring
me he had never before seen a white man. He added that if I would
remain with him until the rains were over, he would give me plenty
of victuals in the meantime, and a hut to sleep in; and that after
he had conducted me in safety to the Gambia, I might then make him
what return I thought proper. I asked him if the value of one prime
slave would satisfy him. He answered in the affirmative, and
immediately ordered one of the huts to be swept for my
accommodation. Thus was I delivered, by the friendly care of this
benevolent negro, from a situation truly deplorable. Distress and
famine pressed hard upon me. I had before me the gloomy wilds of
Jallonkadoo, where the traveller sees no habitation for five
successive days. I had observed at a distance the rapid course of
the river Kokoro. I had almost marked out the place where I was
doomed, I thought, to perish, when this friendly negro stretched out
his hospitable hand for my relief.
In the hut which was appropriated for me I was provided with a mat
to sleep on, an earthen jar for holding water, and a small calabash
to drink out of; and Karfa sent me, from his own dwelling, two meals
a day, and ordered his slaves to supply me with firewood and water.
But I found that neither the kindness of Karfa nor any sort of
accommodation could put a stop to the fever which weakened me, and
which became every day more alarming. I endeavoured as much as
possible to conceal my distress; but on the third day after my
arrival, as I was going with Karfa to visit some of his friends, I
found myself so faint that I could scarcely walk, and before we
reached the place I staggered and fell into a pit, from which the
clay had been taken to build one of the huts. Karfa endeavoured to
console me with the hopes of a speedy recovery, assuring me that if
I would not walk out in the wet I should soon be well. I determined
to follow his advice, and confine myself to my hut, but was still
tormented with the fever, and my health continued to be in a very
precarious state for five ensuing weeks. Sometimes I could crawl
out of the hut, and sit a few hours in the open air; at other times
I was unable to rise, and passed the lingering hours in a very
gloomy and solitary manner. I was seldom visited by any person
except my benevolent landlord, who came daily to inquire after my
health.
When the rains became less frequent, and the country began to grow
dry, the fever left me, but in so debilitated a condition that I
could scarcely stand upright; and it was with great difficulty that
I could carry my mat to the shade of a tamarind-tree, at a short
distance, to enjoy the refreshing smell of the cornfields, and
delight my eyes with a prospect of the country. I had the pleasure
at length to find myself in a state of convalescence, towards which
the benevolent and simple manners of the negroes, and the perusal of
Karfa's little volume, greatly contributed.
In the meantime many of the slatees who reside at Kamalia having
spent all their money, and become in a great measure dependent upon
Karfa's hospitality, beheld me with an eye of envy, and invented
many ridiculous and trifling stories to lessen me in Karfa's esteem.
And in the beginning of December a Serawoolli slatee, with five
slaves, arrived from Sego; this man, too, spread a number of
malicious reports concerning me, but Karfa paid no attention to
them, and continued to show me the same kindness as formerly. As I
was one day conversing with the slaves which this slatee had
brought, one of them begged me to give him some victuals. I told
him I was a stranger, and had none to give. He replied, "I gave you
victuals when you were hungry. Have you forgot the man who brought
you milk at Karrankalla? But," added he with a sigh, "THE IRONS
WERE NOT THEN UPON MY LEGS!" I immediately recollected him, and
begged some ground nuts from Karfa to give him, as a return for his
former kindness.
In the beginning of December, Karfa proposed to complete his
purchase of slaves, and for this purpose collected all the debts
which were owing to him in his own country; and on the 19th, being
accompanied by three slatees, he departed for Kancaba, a large town
on the banks of the Niger and a great slave-market. Most of the
slaves who are sold at Kancaba come from Bambarra; for Mansong, to
avoid the expense and danger of keeping all his prisoners at Sego,
commonly sends them in small parties to be sold at the different
trading towns; and as Kancaba is much resorted to by merchants it is
always well supplied with slaves, which are sent thither up the
Niger in canoes. When Karfa departed from Kamalia he proposed to
return in the course of a month, and during his absence I was left
to the care of a good old bushreen, who acted as schoolmaster to the
young people of Kamalia.
CHAPTER XX - NEGRO CUSTOMS
The whole of my route, both in going and returning, having been
confined to a tract of country bounded nearly by the 12th and 15th
parallels of latitude, the reader must imagine that I found the
climate in most places extremely hot, but nowhere did I feel the
heat so intense and oppressive as in the camp at Benowm, of which
mention has been made in a former place.
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