Who Is This?"
But When He Heard Me Speak The Bambarra Tongue, And Found That I Was
Going The Same Way As Himself, He Promised To Assist Me In Crossing
The River, The Name Of Which He Said Was Frina.
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.
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