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.
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