Departing From This Shocking Scene, I Travelled By The Side Of The River
Until Sunset, When I Came To Koolikorro; A Considerable Town, And A Great
Market For Salt.
Here I took up my lodging at the house of a Barabarran,
who had formerly been the slave of
A Moor, and in that character had
travelled to Aoran, Towdinni, and many other places in the Great Desert;
but turning Mussulman, and his master dying at Jenne, he obtained his
freedom, and settled at this place, where he carries on a considerable
trade in salt, cotton-cloth, &c. His knowledge of the world has not
lessened that superstitious confidence in saphies and charms, which he
had imbibed in his earlier years; for, when he heard that I was a
Christian, he immediately thought of procuring a saphie, and for this
purpose brought out his _walha_, or writing board, assuring me, that he
would dress me a supper of rice, if I would write him a saphie to protect
him from wicked men. The proposal was of too great consequence to me to
be refused; I therefore wrote the board full from top to bottom on both
sides; and my landlord, to be certain of having the whole force of the
charm, washed the writing from the board into a calabash with a little
water, and having said a few prayers over it, drank this powerful
draught; after which, lest a single word should escape, he licked the
board until it was quite dry.
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