Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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He
And His Attendants, After Having Made A Semblance Of Shooting At
Jobson, Laid Their Bows At His Feet, Which Was Understood To Be A
Token Of Homage.
The king even assured the English captain, that the
country, and every thing in it, were then placed at his disposal,
"which bounty, observes Jobson, could require no less than two or
three bottles of my best brandy, although the English were not
sixpence the better for the grant."
The dry season had now commenced, and Jobson observed that the waters
of the river were gradually sinking lower and lower; but the city,
the roofs of which were plates of gold, haunted the busy fancy of
Jobson, and he used every endeavour to ascend the river, in order
that he might discover the sources from which the plates of gold were
made. It was evident to him, that Buckar Sano had either practised an
imposition upon him, or that he had grossly exaggerated the treasures
of the wonderful city; but in regard to the former, he could not
divine any motive by which Buckar Sano could be actuated in imposing
upon him; and in regard to the latter, making every allowance for
exaggeration, it might eventually transpire, that the country
abounded with the precious metal, although perhaps not exactly in the
extraordinary degree as reported by Buckar Sano. After encountering
many difficulties, he was obliged to relinquish the farther ascent of
the river, nor did he even reach the point where the previous
discoveries of Thompson terminated, which may be considered as the
utmost boundary of the discoveries of that period; indeed many years
elapsed before any travellers passed the limits at which Thompson or
Jobson had arrived. The latter gives a strange report, which,
however, was in some degree partially circulated before him, of a
silent traffic being carried on in the interior between the moors and
a negro nation, who would not allow themselves to be seen. "The
reason," he adds, "why these negroes conceal themselves, is, that
they have lips of an unnatural size, hanging down halfway over their
breasts, and which they are obliged to rub with salt continually, to
keep them from putrefaction." Thus even the great salt trade of the
interior of Africa is not wholly untinged with fable.
The stream became at last so shallow, that Jobson could not ascend
any farther, and he began his voyage downwards on the 10th February,
intending to return at the season when the periodical rains filled
the channel. He was, however, never able to execute this purpose, as
he and the company became involved in a quarrel with the merchants,
whom he visits with his highest displeasure, representing them as
persons alive only to their own immediate interests, and utterly
regardless of any of those honourable motives with which all
commercial dealings ought to be characterised.
Jobson may be said to have been the first Englishman, who enjoyed the
opportunity of observing the manners and superstitions peculiar to
the interior of Africa, but that must be taken as only within the
narrow limits to which the discoveries at that period extended. He
found that the chiefs of the different nations were attended by bands
of musicians, to whom he gives the appellation of juddies or
fiddlers, and compares them to the Irish rhymsters, or, as we should
now compare them, to the Italian improvisatori. By some other authors
they are called jelle, or jillemen; the instruments on which they
perform being rudely made of wood, having a sonorous sound, on
account of its extreme hardness, and in some instances they exhibit
the knowledge of the power of an extended string, by fastening a
piece of the gut of an animal across a plane of wood, and beating on
it with a stick. Like the majority of the musicians of the ruder
tribes, the excellence of their music depends on the noise which is
made, and if it be so obstreperous, as almost to deafen the auditors,
the greater is the pleasure which is shown.
These wandering minstrels are frequently attended by the Greegree
men, or sorcerers, who, on account of the fantastic dress which they
wear, form a most motley group; the Greegree men, trying to outvie
each other in the hideous and fantastic style of their dress, and the
more frightful they make themselves appear, the greater they believe
is the effect of their sorcery. The principal festivals are those of
circumcision and of funeral. Whenever former ceremony is performed, a
vast concourse of people are attracted, from every part of the
country, the operator being generally a Greegree man, who pretends to
determine the future fate of the individual, in the manner by which
the operation is performed, but which is always declared to be highly
prosperous, if a liberal present has been made. During the
performance of the ceremony, the forests appear in a blaze, the most
discordant shouts rending the air, intermixed with the sounds of
their instruments, composing altogether a tumult, which is heard at
the distance of many leagues. The dancing is described as of the most
ludicrous kind, marked by those indecencies, which generally
distinguish the amusements of the savage tribes. In these sports, the
women are always the foremost in the violence of their gestures; the
young ones selecting the objects of their affection, to bestow upon
them some token of their attachment.
The funeral of their chiefs is a ceremony of great solemnity, and in
some of its forms has a strong resemblance to an Irish wake. Flowers
of the most odorous scent are buried with the corpse, which is also
supplied with a considerable quantity of gold, to assist him on his
entrance into the other world, where it is believed, that the degree
of happiness, is proportionate to the quantity of gold which the
deceased has in his possession. It must, however, be mentioned, that
the natives of this part of Africa, appear to be wholly exempt from
the stigma, which belongs to some of the other tribes of Africa,
in the human victims which are sacrificed at the funerals of their
kings or chiefs, and which in some cases amount to three or four
hundred.
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