He Then Went A
Little Way Along The Bank, And Called To Some Person, Who Answered
From The Other Side.
In a short time a canoe with two boys came
paddling from among the reeds.
These boys agreed for fifty kowries
to transport me and my horse over the river, which was effected
without much difficulty, and I arrived in the evening at Taffara, a
walled town, and soon discovered that the language of the natives
was improved from the corrupted dialect of Bambarra to the pure
Mandingo.
CHAPTER XVIII - DESPAIRING THOUGHTS - ARRIVAL AT SIBIDOOLOO
On my arrival at Taffara I inquired for the dooty, but was informed
that he had died a few days before my arrival, and that there was at
that moment a meeting of the chief men for electing another, there
being some dispute about the succession. It was probably owing to
this unsettled state of the town that I experienced such a want of
hospitality in it, for though I informed the inhabitants that I
should only remain with them for one night, and assured them that
Mansong had given me some kowries to pay for my lodging, yet no
person invited me to come in, and I was forced to sit alone under
the bentang-tree, exposed to the rain and wind of a tornado, which
lasted with great violence until midnight. At this time the
stranger who had assisted me in crossing the river paid me a visit,
and observing that I had not found a lodging, invited me to take
part of his supper, which he had brought to the door of his hut;
for, being a guest himself, he could not, without his landlord's
consent, invite me to come in. After this I slept upon some wet
grass in the corner of a court. My horse fared still worse than
myself, the corn I purchased being all expended, and I could not
procure a supply.
August 20. - I passed the town of Jaba, and stopped a few minutes at
a village called Somino, where I begged and obtained some coarse
food, which the natives prepare from the husks of corn, and call
boo. About two o'clock I came to the village of Sooha, and
endeavoured to purchase some corn from the dooty, who was sitting by
the gate, but without success. I then requested a little food by
way of charity, but was told he had none to spare. Whilst I was
examining the countenance of this inhospitable old man, and
endeavouring to find out the cause of the sullen discontent which
was visible in his eye, he called to a slave who was working in the
cornfield at a little distance, and ordered him to bring his hoe
along with him. The dooty then told him to dig a hole in the
ground, pointing to a spot at no great distance. The slave, with
his hoe, began to dig a pit in the earth, and the dooty, who
appeared to be a man of very fretful disposition, kept muttering and
talking to himself until the pit was almost finished, when he
repeatedly pronounced the words "dankatoo" ("good for nothing") -
"jankra lemen" ("a real plague") - which expressions I thought could
be applied to nobody but myself; and as the pit had very much the
appearance of a grave, I thought it prudent to mount my horse, and
was about to decamp, when the slave, who had before gone into the
village, to my surprise returned with the corpse of a boy about nine
or ten years of age.
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