Making In All Thirty-Five Slaves.
The Free Men Were Fourteen In Number, But Most Of Them Had One Or
Two
wives and some domestic slaves; and the schoolmaster, who was now upon
his return for Woradoo, the place of
His nativity, took with him eight of
his scholars, so that the number of free people and domestic slaves
amounted to thirty-eight, and the whole amount of the coffle was
seventy-three. Among the freemen were six Jilli keas, (singing men) whose
musical talents were frequently exerted either to divert our fatigue, or
obtain us a welcome from strangers. When we departed from Kamalia, we
were followed for about half a mile by most of the inhabitants of the
town, some of them crying, and others shaking hands with their relations,
who were now about to leave them; and when we had gained a piece of
rising ground, from which we had a view of Kamalia, all the people
belonging to the coffle were ordered to sit down in one place, with their
faces towards the west, and the townspeople were desired to sit down in
another place, with their faces towards Kamalia. In this situation, the
schoolmaster, with two of the principal Slatees, having taken their
places between the two parties, pronounced a long and solemn prayer;
after which, they walked three times round the coffle, making an
impression on the ground with the ends of their spears, and muttering
something by way of charm. When this ceremony was ended, all the people
belonging to the coffle sprang up, and without taking a formal farewell
of their friends, set forward.
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