Karfa Now Looked At Me With Great Earnestness, And
Inquired If I Could Eat The Common Victuals Of The Country, Assuring
Me He Had Never Before Seen A White Man.
He added that if I would
remain with him until the rains were over, he would give me plenty
Of victuals in the meantime, and a hut to sleep in; and that after
he had conducted me in safety to the Gambia, I might then make him
what return I thought proper. I asked him if the value of one prime
slave would satisfy him. He answered in the affirmative, and
immediately ordered one of the huts to be swept for my
accommodation. Thus was I delivered, by the friendly care of this
benevolent negro, from a situation truly deplorable. Distress and
famine pressed hard upon me. I had before me the gloomy wilds of
Jallonkadoo, where the traveller sees no habitation for five
successive days. I had observed at a distance the rapid course of
the river Kokoro. I had almost marked out the place where I was
doomed, I thought, to perish, when this friendly negro stretched out
his hospitable hand for my relief.
In the hut which was appropriated for me I was provided with a mat
to sleep on, an earthen jar for holding water, and a small calabash
to drink out of; and Karfa sent me, from his own dwelling, two meals
a day, and ordered his slaves to supply me with firewood and water.
But I found that neither the kindness of Karfa nor any sort of
accommodation could put a stop to the fever which weakened me, and
which became every day more alarming.
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