As Our Dry Provisions Were Not Yet Exhausted, A Considerable
Quantity Of Kouskous Was Dressed For Supper, And Many Of
The
villagers were invited to take part of the repast; but they made a
very bad return for this kindness,
For in the night they seized upon
one of the schoolmaster's boys, who had fallen asleep under the
bentang tree, and carried him away. The boy fortunately awoke
before he was far from the village, and, setting up a loud scream,
the man who carried him put his hand upon his mouth and ran with him
into the woods; but afterwards understanding that he belonged to the
schoolmaster, whose place of residence is only three days' journey
distant, he thought, I suppose, that he could not retain him as a
slave without the schoolmaster's knowledge, and therefore stripped
off the boy's clothes and permitted him to return.
April 28. - Early in the morning we departed from Sooseeta, and about
ten o'clock came to an unwalled town, called Manna, the inhabitants
of which were employed in collecting the fruit of the nitta-trees,
which are very numerous in this neighbourhood. The pods are long
and narrow, and contain a few black seeds, enveloped in the fine
mealy powder before mentioned; the meal itself is of a bright yellow
colour, resembling the flour of sulphur, and has a sweet
mucilaginous taste. When eaten by itself it is clammy, but when
mixed with milk or water it constitutes a very pleasant and
nourishing article of diet.
The language of the people of Manna is the same that is spoken all
over that extensive and hilly country called Jallonkadoo. Some of
the words have a great affinity to the Mandingo, but the natives
themselves consider it as a distinct language. Their numerals are
these
One, Kidding.
Two, Fidding.
Three, Sarra.
Four, Nani.
Five, Soolo.
Six, Seni.
Seven, Soolo ma fidding.
Eight, Soolo ma sarra.
Nine, Soolo ma nani.
Ten, Nuff.
The Jallonkas, like the Mandingoes, are governed by a number of
petty chiefs, who are in a great measure independent of each other.
They have no common sovereign, and the chiefs are seldom upon such
terms of friendship as to assist each other even in war-time. The
chief of Manna, with a number of his people, accompanied us to the
banks of the Bafing, or Black River (a principal branch of the
Senegal), which we crossed upon a bridge of bamboos of a very
singular construction. The river at this place is smooth and deep,
and has very little current. Two tall trees, when tied together by
the tops, are sufficiently long to reach from one side to the other,
the roots resting upon the rocks, and the tops floating in the
water. When a few trees have been placed in this direction, they
are covered with dry bamboos, so as to form a floating bridge, with
a sloping gangway at each end, where the trees rest upon the rocks.
This bridge is carried away every year by the swelling of the river
in the rainy season, and is constantly rebuilt by the inhabitants of
Manna, who, on that account, expect a small tribute from every
passenger.
In the afternoon we passed several villages, at none of which we
could procure a lodging, and in the twilight we received information
that two hundred Jallonkas had assembled near a town called Melo,
with a view to plunder the coffle. This induced us to alter our
course, and we travelled with great secrecy until midnight, when we
approached a town called Koba. Before we entered the town the names
of all the people belonging to the coffle were called over, and a
freeman and three slaves were found to be missing. Every person
immediately concluded that the slaves had murdered the freeman and
made their escape. It was therefore agreed that six people should
go back as far as the last village, and endeavour to find his body,
or collect some information concerning the slaves. In the meantime
the coffle was ordered to lie concealed in a cotton-field near a
large nitta-tree, and nobody to speak except in a whisper. It was
towards morning before the six men returned, having heard nothing of
the man or the slaves. As none of us had tasted victuals for the
last twenty-four hours, it was agreed that we should go into Koba
and endeavour to procure some provisions. We accordingly entered
the town before it was quite day, and Karfa purchased from the chief
man, for three strings of beads, a considerable quantity of ground
nuts, which we roasted and ate for breakfast. We were afterwards
provided with huts, and rested here for the day.
About eleven o'clock, to our great joy and surprise, the freeman and
slaves who had parted from the coffle the preceding night entered
the town. One of the slaves, it seems, had hurt his foot, and the
night being very dark they soon lost sight of the coffle. The
freeman, as soon as he found himself alone with the slaves was aware
of his own danger, and insisted on putting them in irons. The
slaves were at first rather unwilling to submit, but when he
threatened to stab them one by one with his spear, they made no
farther resistance; and he remained with them among the bushes until
morning, when he let them out of irons, and came to the town in
hopes of hearing which route the coffle had taken. The information
that we received concerning the Jallonkas who intended to rob the
coffle was this day confirmed, and we were forced to remain here
until the afternoon of the 30th, when Karfa hired a number of people
to protect us, and we proceeded to a village called Tinkingtang.
Departing from this village on the day following, we crossed a high
ridge of mountains to the west of the Black River, and travelled
over a rough stony country until sunset, when we arrived at
Lingicotta, a small village in the district of Woradoo.
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