The Fast Of Ramadan Was Observed With Great Strictness By All The
Bushreens, But Instead Of Compelling Me To Follow Their Example, As
The Moors Did On A Similar Occasion, Karfa Frankly Told Me That I
Was At Liberty To Pursue My Own Inclination.
In order, however, to
manifest a respect for their religious opinions, I voluntarily
fasted three days, which was thought sufficient to screen me from
the reproachful epithet of kafir.
During the fast all the slatees
belonging to the coffle assembled every morning in Karfa's house,
where the schoolmaster read to them some religious lessons from a
large folio volume, the author of which was an Arab of the name of
Sheiffa. In the evening such of the women as had embraced
Mohammedanism assembled and said their prayers publicly at the
missura. They were all dressed in white, and went through the
different prostrations prescribed by their religion with becoming
solemnity. Indeed, during the whole fast of Ramadan the negroes
behaved themselves with the greatest meekness and humility, forming
a striking contrast to the savage intolerance and brutal bigotry
which at this period characterise the Moors.
When the fast month was almost at an end, the bushreens assembled at
the missura to watch for the appearance of the new moon, but, the
evening being rather cloudy, they were for some time disappointed,
and a number of them had gone home with a resolution to fast another
day, when on a sudden this delightful object showed her sharp horns
from behind a cloud, and was welcomed with the clapping of hands,
beating of drums, firing of muskets, and other marks of rejoicing.
As this moon is reckoned extremely lucky, Karfa gave orders that all
the people belonging to the coffle should immediately pack up their
dry provisions and hold themselves in readiness; and on the 16th of
April the slatees held a consultation and fixed on the 19th of the
same month as the day on which the coffle should depart from
Kamalia. This resolution freed me from much uneasiness, for our
departure had already been so long deferred that I was apprehensive
it might still be put off until the commencement of the rainy
season; and although Karfa behaved towards me with the greatest
kindness, I found my situation very unpleasant. The slatees were
unfriendly to me, and the trading Moors who were at this time at
Kamalia continued to plot mischief against me from the first day of
their arrival. Under these circumstances I reflected that my life
in a great measure depended on the good opinion of an individual who
was daily hearing malicious stories concerning the Europeans, and I
could hardly expect that he would always judge with impartiality
between me and his countrymen. Time had, indeed, reconciled me in
some degree to their mode of life, and a smoky hut or a scanty
supper gave me no great uneasiness; but I became at last wearied out
with a constant state of alarm and anxiety, and felt a painful
longing for the manifold blessings of civilised society.
April 19. - The long-wished-for day of our departure was at length
arrived; and the slatees, having taken the irons from their slaves,
assembled with them at the door of Karfa's house, where the bundles
were all tied up, and every one had his load assigned him. The
coffle, on its departure from Kamalia, consisted of twenty-seven
slaves for sale, the property of Karfa and four other slatees; but
we were afterwards joined by five at Maraboo and three at Bala -
making in all thirty-five slaves. The freemen were fourteen in
number, but most of them had one or two wives and some domestic
slaves; and the schoolmaster, who was now upon his return for
Woradoo, the place of his nativity, took with him eight of his
scholars, so that the number of free people and domestic slaves
amounted to thirty-eight, and the whole amount of the coffle was
seventy-three. Among the freemen were six jillikeas (singing men),
whose musical talents were frequently exerted either to divert our
fatigue or obtain us a welcome from strangers. When we departed
from Kamalia, we were followed for about half a mile by most of the
inhabitants of the town, some of them crying and others shaking
hands with their relations who were now about to leave them; and
when we had gained a piece of rising ground, from which we had a
view of Kamalia, all the people belonging to the coffle were ordered
to sit down in one place with their faces towards the west, and the
townspeople were desired to sit down in another place with their
faces towards Kamalia. In this situation the schoolmaster, with two
of the principal slatees, having taken their places between the two
parties, pronounced a long and solemn prayer, after which they
walked three times round the coffle, making an impression in the
ground with the ends of their spears, and muttering something by way
of charm. When this ceremony was ended, all the people belonging to
the coffle sprang up and, without taking a formal farewell of their
friends, set forwards. As many of the slaves had remained for years
in irons, the sudden exertion of walking quick with heavy loads upon
their heads occasioned spasmodic contractions of their legs; and we
had not proceeded above a mile before it was found necessary to take
two of them from the rope, and allow them to walk more slowly until
we reached Maraboo, a walled village, where some people were waiting
to join the coffle. Here we stopped about two hours, to allow the
strangers time to pack up their provisions, and then continued our
route to Bala, which town we reached about four in the afternoon.
The inhabitants of Bala at this season of the year subsist chiefly
on fish, which they take in great plenty from the streams in the
neighbourhood. We remained here until the afternoon of the next
day, the 20th, when we proceeded to Worumbang, the frontier village
of Manding, towards Jallonkadoo.
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