Luckily We Were Not Far Advanced,
And Got Back To The Shore Without Much Difficulty; From Whence, After
Wringing The Water From Our Clothes, We Took A Fresh Departure, And Were
Soon Afterwards Safely Landed In Kasson.
CHAPTER VI.
_Arrival at Teesee. - Interview with Tiggity Sego, the king's
brother, - The Author's detention at Teesee. - Some account of that place
and its inhabitants. - Incidents which occurred there. - Rapacious conduct
of Tiggity Sego toward the Author on his departure - Sets out for
Kooniakary, the capital of the kingdom. - Incidents on the road, and
arrival at Kooniakary._
We no sooner found ourselves safe in Kasson, than Demba Sego told me that
we were now in his uncle's dominions, and he hoped I would consider,
being now out of danger, the obligation I owed to him, and make him a
suitable return for the trouble he had taken on my account by a handsome
present. This, as he knew how much had been pilfered from me at Joag, was
rather an unexpected proposition; and I began to fear that I had not much
improved my condition by crossing the water; but as it would have been
folly to complain, I made no observation upon his conduct, and gave him
seven bars of amber and some tobacco, with which he seemed to be content.
After a long day's journey, in the course of which I observed a number of
large loose nodules of white granite, we arrived at Teesee on the evening
of December 29th, and were accommodated in Demba Sego's hut. The next
morning he introduced me to his father Tiggity Sego, brother to the King
of Kasson, chief of Teesee. The old man viewed me with great earnestness,
having never, he said, beheld but one white man before, whom by his
description I immediately knew to be Major Houghton. I related to him, in
answer to his inquiries, the motives that induced me to explore the
country. But he seemed to doubt the truth of what I asserted; thinking, I
believe, that I secretly meditated some project which I was afraid to
avow. He told me, it would be necessary I should go to Kooniakary, the
residence of the king, to pay my respects to that prince, but desired me
to come to him again before I left Teesee.
In the afternoon one of his slaves eloped; and a general alarm being
given, every person that had a horse rode into the woods, in the hopes of
apprehending him; and Demba Sego begged the use of my horse for the same
purpose. I readily consented: and in about an hour they all returned with
the slave, who was severely flogged, and afterwards put in irons. On the
day following, (Dec. 31,) Demba Sego was ordered to go with twenty
horsemen to a town in Gedumah, to adjust some dispute with the Moors, a
party of whom were supposed to have stolen three horses from Teesee.
Demba begged a second time the use of my horse; adding, that the sight of
my bridle and saddle would give him consequence among the Moors. This
request also I readily granted, and he promised to return at the end of
three days. During his absence I amused myself with walking about the
town, and conversing with the natives, who attended me everywhere with
great kindness and curiosity, and supplied me with milk, eggs, and what
other provisions I wanted, on very easy terms.
Teesee is a large unwalled town, having no security against the attack of
an enemy except a sort of citadel, in which Tiggity and his family
constantly reside. This town, according to the report of the natives, was
formerly inhabited only by a few Foulah shepherds, who lived in
considerable affluence by means of the excellent meadows in the
neighbourhood, in which they reared great herds of cattle; but their
prosperity attracting the envy of some Mandingoes, the latter drove out
the shepherds, and took possession of their lands.
The present inhabitants, though they possess both cattle and corn in
abundance, are not over nice in articles of diet; rats, moles, squirrels,
snakes, locusts, &c., are eaten without scruple by the highest and
lowest. My people were one evening invited to a feast given by some of
the townsmen, where, after making a hearty meal of what they thought fish
and kouskous, one of them found a piece of hard skin in the dish, and
brought it along with him, to show me what sort of fish they had been
eating. On examining the skin, I found they had been feasting on a large
snake. Another custom, still more extraordinary, is, that no woman is
allowed to eat an egg. This prohibition, whether arising from ancient
superstition, or from the craftiness of some old Bushreen who loved eggs
himself, is rigidly adhered to, and nothing will more affront a woman of
Teesee than to offer her an egg. The custom is the more singular, as the
men eat eggs without scruple in the presence of their wives, and I never
observed the same prohibition in any other of the Mandingo countries.
The third day after his son's departure, Tiggity Sego held a palaver on a
very extraordinary occasion, which I attended; and the debates on both
sides of the question displayed much ingenuity. The case was this: A
young man, a Kafir, of considerable affluence, who had recently married a
young and handsome wife, applied to a very devout Bushreen, or Mussulman
priest of his acquaintance, to procure him saphies for his protection
during the approaching war. The Bushreen complied with the request; and
in order, as he pretended, to render the saphies more efficacious,
enjoined the young man to avoid any nuptial intercourse with his bride
for the space of six weeks. Severe as the injunction was, the Kafir
strictly obeyed; and without telling his wife the real cause, absented
himself from her company. In the meantime, it began to be whispered at
Teesee, that the Bushreen, who always performed his evening devotions at
the door of the Kafir's hut, was more intimate with the young wife than
he ought to be.
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