As We Proposed Shortly To Enter
The Jallonka Wilderness, The People Of This Village Furnished Us
With Great Plenty Of Provisions, And On The Morning Of The 21st We
Entered The Woods To The Westward Of Worumbang.
After having
travelled some little way, a consultation was held whether we should
continue our route through the wilderness, or save one day's
provisions by going to Kinytakooro, a town in Jallonkadoo.
After
debating the matter for some time, it was agreed that we should take
the road for Kinytakooro; but as that town was a long day's journey
distant, it was necessary to take some refreshment. Accordingly
every person opened his provision-bag and brought a handful or two
of meal to the place where Karfa and the slatees were sitting. When
every one had brought his quota, and the whole was properly arranged
in small gourd-shells, the schoolmaster offered up a short prayer,
the substance of which was that God and the holy Prophet might
preserve us from robbers and all bad people, that our provisions
might never fail us, nor our limbs become fatigued. This ceremony
being ended, every one partook of the meal and drank a little water,
after which we set forward (rather running than walking) until we
came to the river Kokoro, a branch of the Senegal, where we halted
about ten minutes. The banks of this river are very high, and from
the grass and brushwood which had been left by the stream it was
evident that at this place the water had risen more than twenty feet
perpendicular during the rainy season. At this time it was only a
small stream, such as would turn a mill, swarming with fish; and on
account of the number of crocodiles, and the danger of being carried
past the ford by the force of the stream in the rainy season, it is
called Kokoro (dangerous). From this place we continued to travel
with the greatest expedition, and in the afternoon crossed two small
branches of the Kokoro. About sunset we came in sight of
Kinytakooro, a considerable town, nearly square, situated in the
middle of a large and well-cultivated plain: before we entered the
town, we halted until the people who had fallen behind came up.
During this day's travel two slaves, a woman and a girl, belonging
to a slates of Bala, were so much fatigued that they could not keep
up with the coffle; they were severely whipped, and dragged along
until about three o'clock in the afternoon, when they were both
affected with vomiting, by which it was discovered that they had
EATEN clay. This practice is by no means uncommon amongst the
negroes; but whether it arises from a vitiated appetite, or from a
settled intention to destroy themselves, I cannot affirm. They were
permitted to lie down in the woods, and three people remained with
them until they had rested themselves; but they did not arrive at
the town until past midnight, and were then so much exhausted that
the slatee gave up all thoughts of taking them across the woods in
their present condition, and determined to return with them to Bala
and wait for another opportunity.
As this was the first town beyond the limits of Manding, greater
etiquette than usual was observed. Every person was ordered to keep
in his proper station, and we marched towards the town in a sort of
procession nearly as follows:- In front five or six singing men, all
of them belonging to the coffle; these were followed by the other
free people; then came the slaves, fastened in the usual way by a
rope round their necks, four of them to a rope, and a man with a
spear between each four; after them came the domestic slaves; and in
the rear the women of free condition, wives of the slatees, etc. In
this manner we proceeded until we came within a hundred yards of the
gate, when the singing men began a loud song, well calculated to
flatter the vanity of the inhabitants, by extolling their known
hospitality to strangers and their particular friendship for the
Mandingoes. When we entered the town we proceeded to the bentang,
where the people gathered round us to hear our dentegi (history);
this was related publicly by two of the singing men - they enumerated
every little circumstance which had happened to the coffle,
beginning with the events of the present day and relating everything
in a backward series until they reached Kamalia. When this history
was ended, the master of the town gave them a small present, and all
the people of the coffle, both free and enslaved, were invited by
some person or other and accommodated with lodging and provisions
for the night.
CHAPTER XXV - THE JALLONKA WILDERNESS; A WARLIKE TALE
We continued at Kinytakooro until noon of the 22nd of April, when we
removed to a village about seven miles to the westward, the
inhabitants of which, being apprehensive of hostilities from the
Foulahs of Fooladoo, were at this time employed in constructing
small temporary huts among the rocks, on the side of a high hill
close to the village. The situation was almost impregnable, being
everywhere surrounded with high precipices, except on the eastern
side, where the natives had left a pathway sufficient to allow one
person at a time to ascend. Upon the brow of the hill, immediately
over this path, I observed several heaps of large loose stones,
which the people told me were intended to be thrown down upon the
Foulahs if they should attempt the hill.
At daybreak on the 23rd we departed from this village and entered
the Jallonka Wilderness. We passed in the course of the morning the
ruins of two small towns which had lately been burnt by the Foulahs.
The fire must have been very intense, for I observed that the walls
of many of the huts were slightly vitrified, and appeared at a
distance as if covered with a red varnish.
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