The chief man surveys the number and
activity of his vassals as they brandish their spears at festivals,
and, elated with his own importance, turns his whole thoughts
towards revenging some depredation or insult which either he or his
ancestors may have received from a neighbouring state.
Wars of this description are generally conducted with great secrecy.
A few resolute individuals, headed by some person of enterprise and
courage, march quietly through the woods, surprise in the night some
unprotected village, and carry off the inhabitants and their effects
before their neighbours can come to their assistance. One morning
during my stay at Kamalia we were all much alarmed by a party of
this kind. The king of Fooladoo's son, with five hundred horsemen,
passed secretly through the woods a little to the southward of
Kamalia, and on the morning following plundered three towns
belonging to Madigai, a powerful chief in Jallonkadoo.
The success of this expedition encouraged the governor of Bangassi,
a town in Fooladoo, to make a second inroad upon another part of the
same country. Having assembled about two hundred of his people, he
passed the river Kokoro in the night, and carried off a great number
of prisoners. Several of the inhabitants who had escaped these
attacks were afterwards seized by the Mandingoes as they wandered
about in the woods or concealed themselves in the glens and strong
places of the mountains.
These plundering excursions always produced speedy retaliation: and
when large parties cannot be collected for this purpose, a few
friends will combine together and advance into the enemy's country,
with a view to plunder or carry off the inhabitants. A single
individual has been known to take his bow and quiver and proceed in
like manner. Such an attempt is doubtless in him an act of
rashness; but when it is considered that in one of these predatory
wars he has probably been deprived of his child or his nearest
relation, his situation will rather call for pity than censure. The
poor sufferer, urged on by the feelings of domestic or paternal
attachment and the ardour of revenge, conceals himself among the
bushes until some young or unarmed person passes by. He then,
tiger-like, springs upon his prey, drags his victim into the
thicket, and in the night carries him off as a slave.
When a negro has, by means like these, once fallen into the hands of
his enemies, he is either retained as the slave of his conqueror, or
bartered into a distant kingdom; for an African, when he has once
subdued his enemy, will seldom give him an opportunity of lifting up
his hand against him at a future period. A conqueror commonly
disposes of his captives according to the rank which they held in
their native kingdom. Such of the domestic slaves as appear to be
of a mild disposition, and particularly the young women, are
retained as his own slaves.
