I Will Not, Therefore, Kill You In Cold Blood, But I Will
Retain You As My Slave, Until I Perceive
That your presence in your
own kingdom will be no longer dangerous to your neighbours, and then
I will consider
Of the proper way of disposing of you." Abdulkader
was accordingly retained, and worked as a slave for three months; at
the end of which period Damel listened to the solicitations of the
inhabitants of Foota-Torra, and restored to them their king.
Strange as this story may appear, I have no doubt of the truth of
it. It was told me at Malacotta by the negroes; it was afterwards
related to me by the Europeans on the Gambia, by some of the French
at Goree, and confirmed by nine slaves who were taken prisoners
along with Abdulkader by the watering-place in the woods and carried
in the same ship with me to the West Indies.
CHAPTER XXVI - MEETING WITH DR. LAIDLEY - RETURN TO THE COAST - VOYAGE
TO ENGLAND
On the 7th of May we departed from Malacotta, and having crossed the
Ba Lee (Honey River), a branch of the Senegal, we arrived in the
evening at a walled town called Bintingala, where we rested two
days. From thence, in one day more, we proceeded to Dindikoo, a
small town situated at the bottom of a high ridge of hills, from
which this district is named Konkodoo (the country of mountains).
These hills are very productive of gold. I was shown a small
quantity of this metal which had been lately collected: the grains
were about the usual size, but much flatter than those of Manding,
and were found in white quartz, which had been broken to pieces by
hammers. At this town I met with a negro whose hair and skin were
of a dull white colour. He was of that sort which are called in the
Spanish West Indies albinos, or white negroes. The skin is
cadaverous and unsightly, and the natives considered this complexion
(I believe truly) as the effect of disease.
May 11. - At daybreak we departed from Dindikoo, and, after a
toilsome day's travel, arrived in the evening at Satadoo, the
capital of a district of the same name. This town was formerly of
considerable extent, but many families had left it in consequence of
the predatory incursions of the Foulahs of Foota-Jalla, who made it
a practice to come secretly through the woods and carry off people
from the cornfields and even from the wells near the town. In the
afternoon of the 12th we crossed the Faleme River, the same which I
had formerly crossed at Bondou in my journey eastward. This river,
at this season of the year, is easily forded at this place, the
stream being only about two feet deep. The water is very pure, and
flows rapidly over a bed of sand and gravel. We lodged for the
night at a small village called Medina, the sole property of a
Mandingo merchant who, by a long intercourse with Europeans, has
been induced to adopt some of their customs.
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