They Solicited The
Moors To Assist Them In Their Rebellion, (As Will Appear Hereafter,) And,
Having Collected A Considerable Army, They Plundered A Large Village
Belonging To Daisy, And Carried Off A Number Of Prisoners.
Daisy immediately prepared to revenge this insult; but the Jowers, and
indeed almost all the Negro inhabitants of Ludamar, deserted their towns,
and fled to the eastward; and the rainy season put an end to the war of
Kaarta, which had enriched a few individuals, but destroyed the happiness
of thousands.
Such was the state of affairs among the nations in the neighbourhood of
Jarra, soon after the period of my arrival there. I shall now proceed,
after giving some description of that place, with the detail of events as
they occurred.
CHAPTER IX.
_Some account of Jarra, and the Moorish inhabitants. - The Author applies
for and obtains permission from Ali, the Moorish chief or sovereign of
Ludamar, to pass through his territories. - Departs from Jarra, and
arrives at Deena. - Ill treated by the Moors. - Proceeds to Sampaka. - Finds
a Negro who makes gunpowder. - Continues his journey to Samee, where he is
seized by some Moors, who are sent for that purpose by Ali. - Is conveyed
a prisoner to the Moorish camp at Benowm, on the borders of the Great
Desert._
The town of Jarra is of considerable extent; the houses are built of clay
and stone intermixed; the clay answering the purpose of mortar. It is
situated in the Moorish kingdom of Ludamar; but the major part of the
inhabitants are Negroes, from the borders of the southern states, who
prefer a precarious protection under the Moors - which they purchase by a
tribute - rather than continue exposed to their predatory hostilities. The
tribute they pay is considerable; and they manifest towards their Moorish
superiors the most unlimited obedience and submission, and are treated by
them with the utmost indignity and contempt. The Moors of this, and the
other states adjoining the country of the Negroes, resemble in their
persons the Mulattoes of the West Indies to so great a degree, as not
easily to be distinguished from them; and in truth, the present
generation seem to be a mixed race between the Moors (properly so called)
of the North, and the Negroes of the South, possessing many of the worst
qualities of both nations.
Of the origin of these Moorish tribes, as distinguished from the
inhabitants of Barbary, from whom they are divided by the Great Desert,
nothing farther seems to be known than what is related by John Leo, the
African; whose account may be abridged as follows.
Before the Arabian Conquest, about the middle of the seventh century, all
the inhabitants of Africa, whether they were descended from Numidians,
Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, or Goths, were comprehended
under the general name of _Mauri_ or Moors. All these nations were
converted to the religion of Mahomet, during the Arabian empire under the
Caliphs. About this time many of the Numidian tribes, who led a wandering
life in the Desert, and supported themselves upon the produce of their
cattle, retired southward across the Great Desert, to avoid the fury of
the Arabians: and by one of those tribes, says Leo, (that of Zanhaga,)
were discovered and conquered the Negro nations on the Niger. By the
Niger is here undoubtedly meant the river of Senegal, which in the
Mandingo language is called _Bafing_, or the Black River.
To what extent these people are now spread over the African continent it
is difficult to ascertain; There is reason to believe, that their
dominion stretches from west to east, in a narrow line or belt, from the
mouth of the Senegal (on the northern side of that river) to the confines
of Abyssinia. They are a subtle and treacherous race of people; and take
every opportunity of cheating and plundering the credulous and
unsuspecting Negroes. But their manners and general habits of life will
be best explained, as incidents occur, in the course of my narrative.
On my arrival at Jarra, I obtained a lodging at the house of Daman Jumma,
a Gambia slatee. This man had formerly borrowed goods from Dr. Laidley,
who had given me an order for the money, to the amount of six slaves; and
though the debt was of five years standing, he readily acknowledged it,
and promised me what money he could raise. He was afraid, he said, in his
present situation, he could not pay more than two slaves' value. He gave
me his assistance, however, in exchanging my beads and amber for gold,
which was a more portable article, and more easily concealed from the
Moors.
The difficulties we had already encountered, the unsettled state of the
country, and, above all, the savage and overbearing deportment of the
Moors, had so completely frightened my attendants, that they declared
they would rather relinquish every claim to reward, than proceed one step
farther to the eastward. Indeed, the danger they incurred of being seized
by the Moors, and sold into slavery, became every day more apparent; and
I could not condemn their apprehensions. In this situation, deserted by
my attendants, and reflecting that my retreat was cut off by the war
behind me, and that a Moorish country of ten days' journey lay before me,
I applied to Daman to obtain permission from Ali, the chief or sovereign
of Ludamar, that I might pass through his country unmolested into
Bambarra; and I hired one of Daman's slaves to accompany me thither, as
soon as such permission should be obtained. A messenger was dispatched to
Ali, who at this time was encamped near Benowm; and as a present was
necessary in order to insure success, I sent him five garments of cotton
cloth, which I purchased of Daman for one of my fowling-pieces. Fourteen
days elapsed in settling this affair; but, on the evening of the 26th of
February, one of Ali's slaves arrived with directions, as he pretended,
to conduct me in safety as far as Goomba; and told me I was to pay him
one garment of blue cotton cloth for his attendance.
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