My Protector, Whose Name Was Demba Sego, Probably After His Uncle, Had A
Numerous Retinue.
Our company at leaving Joag consisted of thirty persons
and six loaded asses; and we rode on cheerfully enough for some hours,
without any remarkable occurrence, until we came to a species of tree,
for which my interpreter, Johnson, had made frequent inquiry.
On finding
it, he desired us to stop; and producing a white chicken, which he had
purchased at Joag for the purpose, he tied it by the leg to one of the
branches, and then told us we might now safely proceed, for that our
journey would be prosperous. This circumstance is mentioned merely to
illustrate the disposition of the Negroes, and to show the power of
superstition over their minds; for although this man had resided seven
years in England, it was evident that he still retained the prejudices
and notions he had imbibed in his youth. He meant this ceremony, he told
me, as an offering or sacrifice to the spirits of the woods; who were, he
said, a powerful race of beings of a white colour, with long flowing
hair. I laughed at his folly, but could not condemn the piety of his
motives.
At noon we had reached Gungadi, a large town, where we stopped about an
hour, until some of the asses that had fallen behind came up. Here I
observed a number of date trees, and a mosque built of clay, with six
turrets, on the pinnacles of which were placed six ostrich eggs.
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