As We
Had Only Ate One Handful Of Meal Since The Preceding Night, And
Travelled All Day In A Hot
Sun, many of the slaves who had loads
upon their heads were very much fatigued, and some of them SNAPPED
THEIR FINGERS, which among the negroes is a sure sign of
desperation. The slatees immediately put them all in irons, and
such of them as had evinced signs of great despondency were kept
apart from the rest, and had their hands tied. In the morning they
were found greatly recovered.
April 25. - At daybreak poor Nealee was awakened, but her limbs were
now become so stiff and painful that she could neither walk nor
stand; she was therefore lifted, like a corpse, upon the back of the
ass, and the slatees endeavoured to secure her in that situation by
fastening her hands together under the ass's neck, and her feet
under the belly, with long slips of bark; but the ass was so very
unruly that no sort of treatment could induce him to proceed with
his load, and as Nealee made no exertion to prevent herself from
falling she was quickly thrown off, and had one of her legs much
bruised. Every attempt to carry her forward being thus found
ineffectual, the general cry of the coffle was Kang-tegi, kang-tegi
("Cut her throat, cut her throat") - an operation I did not wish to
see performed, and therefore marched onwards with the foremost of
the coffle. I had not walked above a mile, when one of Karfa's
domestic slaves came up to me, with poor Nealea's garment upon the
end of his bow, and exclaimed, Nealee affeeleeta ("Nealee is lost")!
I asked him whether the slatees had given him the garment as a
reward for cutting her throat. He replied that Karfa and the
schoolmaster would not consent to that measure, but had left her on
the road, where undoubtedly she soon perished, and was probably
devoured by wild beasts.
The sad fate of this wretched woman, notwithstanding the outcry
before mentioned, made a strong impression on the mind of the whole
coffle, and the schoolmaster fasted the whole of the ensuing day in
consequence of it. We proceeded in deep silence, and soon
afterwards crossed the river Furkoomah, which was about as large as
the river Wonda. We now travelled with great expedition, every one
being apprehensive he might otherwise meet with the fate of poor
Nealee. It was, however, with great difficulty that I could keep
up, although I threw away my spear and everything that could in the
least obstruct me. About noon we saw a large herd of elephants, but
they suffered us to pass unmolested; and in the evening we halted
near a thicket of bamboo, but found no water, so that we were forced
to proceed four miles farther to a small stream, where we stopped
for the night. We had marched this day, as I judged, about twenty-
six miles.
April 26. - This morning two of the schoolmaster's pupils complained
much of pains in their legs, and one of the slaves walked lame, the
soles of his feet being very much blistered and inflamed; we
proceeded, notwithstanding, and about eleven o'clock began to ascend
a rocky hill called Boki-Kooro, and it was past two in the afternoon
before we reached the level ground on the other side. This was the
most rocky road we had yet encountered, and it hurt our feet much.
In a short time we arrived at a pretty large river, called Boki,
which we forded; it ran smooth and clear over a bed of whinstone.
About a mile to the westward of the river we came to a road which
leads to the north-east towards Gadou, and seeing the marks of many
horses' feet upon the soft sand, the slatees conjectured that a
party of plunderers had lately rode that way to fall upon some town
of Gadou; and lest they should discover upon their return that we
had passed, and attempt to pursue us by the marks of our feet, the
coffle was ordered to disperse and travel in a loose manner through
the high grass and bushes. A little before it was dark, having
crossed the ridge of hills to the westward of the river Boki, we
came to a well called Cullong Qui (White Sand Well), and here we
rested for the night.
April 27. - We departed from the well early in the morning, and
walked on with the greatest alacrity, in hopes of reaching a town
before night. The road during the forenoon led through extensive
thickets of dry bamboos. About two o'clock we came to a stream
called Nunkolo, where we were each of us regaled with a handful of
meal, which, according to a superstitious custom, was not to be
eaten until it was first moistened with water from this stream.
About four o'clock we reached Sooseeta, a small Jallonka village,
situated in the district of Kullo, which comprehends all that tract
of country lying along the banks of the Black River, or main branch
of the Senegal. These were the first human habitations we had seen
since we left the village to the westward of Kinytakooro, having
travelled in the course of the last five days upwards of one hundred
miles. Here, after a great deal of entreaty, we were provided with
huts to sleep in, but the master of the village plainly told us that
he could not give us any provisions, as there had lately been a
great scarcity in this part of the country. He assured us that,
before they had gathered in their present crops, the whole
inhabitants of Kullo had been for twenty-nine days without tasting
corn, during which time they supported themselves entirely upon the
yellow powder which is found in the pods of the nitta, so called by
the natives, a species of mimosa, and upon the seeds of the bamboo-
cane, which, when properly pounded and dressed, taste very much like
rice.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 35 of 45
Words from 34851 to 35863
of 45368
