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.
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