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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All Was Silent As Death, Except The Thunder And
The Wind.
The cloudy sky appeared as if on fire, each cloud rolling
onwards as a sea of flame, and only
Surpassed in grandeur and
brightness by the forked lightning, which constantly seemed to ascend
and descend from what was then evidently the town of Bali on fire,
only a short distance outside the walls of Koolfu. When this was
extinguished a new scene began, if possible, worse than the first.
The wind had increased to a hurricane. Houses were blown down;
Roofs of houses going along with the wind like chaff, the shady trees
in the town bending and breaking; and in the intervals between the
roaring of the thunder, nothing was heard but the war cry of the men
and the screams of women and children, as no one knew but that an
enemy was at hand, and that they should every instant share in the
fate of Bali. At last the rain fell, the fire at Bali had ceased by
the town being wholly burnt down, and all was quiet and silent, as if
the angel of extermination had brandished his sword over the devoted
country.
Koolfu or Koolfie stands on the northern bank of the May Garrow, and
contains from twelve to fifteen thousand inhabitants, including
slaves. It is built in the form of an oblong square, surrounded with
a clay wall, about twenty feet high, with four gates. There are a
great number of dyers, tailors, blacksmiths, and weavers, but all
these, together with the rest of the townsfolk, are engaged in
traffic. There are besides the daily market, general markets every
Monday and Saturday, which are resorted to by traders from all
quarters: Youriba, Borgoo, Soccatoo, Houssa, Nyffee, and Benin.
The caravans from Bornou and Houssa, which halt at Koolfu a
considerable time, bring horses, natron, unwrought silk, silk cord,
beads, Maltese swords from Bengazi, remounted at Kano; clothes made
up in the moorish fashion, Italian looking glasses, such as sell for
one penny and upwards at Malta, tobes undyed, made in Bornou, khol
for the eyelids, a small quantity of attar of roses, much
adulterated, gums from Mecca, silks from Egypt, moorish caps, and
slaves. The latter who are intended for sale, are confined in the
house mostly in irons, and are seldom allowed to go out of it, except
to the well or river every morning to wash. They are strictly guarded
on a journey, and chained neck to neck, or else tied neck to neck by
a long rope of raw hide, and carry loads on their heads, consisting
of their master's goods or household stuff; these loads are generally
from fifty to sixty pounds weight. A stranger may remain a long time
in a town without seeing any of the slaves, except by accident or by
making a particular inquiry. Although professedly moslem, religion
had not yet moulded the society of the Koolfuans into the usual
gloomy monotony, nor had it succeeded in secluding or subjecting the
female sex, who on the contrary, were the most active agents in every
mercantile transaction. In the widow Laddie's house, no fewer than
twenty-one of these female merchants were lodged at the same time
that Clapperton and Lander took up their abode with her, and it may
be easily supposed, that the Europeans led a most pleasant life of
it. An African hut is by no means at any time an abode which an
European would covet, but in addition to the suffocating heat, the
mosquitoes, and many other nameless inconveniences, to be congregated
with twenty or thirty females, not carrying about them the most
delicious odour in the world, and making the welkin ring again with
their discordant screams, there denominated singing, is a
consummation by no means devoutly to be wished. In addition to other
nuisances, the organ of amativeness, as the phrenologists would have
it, was strongly developed in some of the skulls of the ladies, and
displayed themselves in their actions towards the Europeans, who not
being disposed to return their amorous advances, often made a
precipitate retreat out of the hut, not being aware at the time that
by avoiding Sylla, they ran a great risk of failing into Charybdis.
The widow Laddie, although huge, fat, and deaf, was by no means of a
cold, phlegmatic or saturnine disposition - many a wistful look she
cast towards Lander, but he either would not or could not comprehend
their meaning, and to punish him for his stupidity, she took care
that he should not comprehend any of the significant glances, which
were cast towards him by the more juvenile portion of the community.
To protect him from this danger, the kind widow attended him
whithersoever he went, to the great annoyance of Lander, who, in
order to escape from such a living torment, betook himself to a more
distant part of the town, or explored its vicinity, although very
little presented itself to attract his immediate attention.
The following is the manner in which the good people of Koolfu fill
up the twenty-four hours. At daylight, the whole household rise. The
women begin to clean the house, the men to wash from head to foot;
the women and children are then washed in water, in which has been
boiled the leaf of a bush called bambarnia. When this is done,
breakfast of cocoa is served out, every one having their separate
dish, the women and children eating together. After breakfast, the
women and children rub themselves over with the pounded red wood and
a little grease, which lightens the darkness of the black skin. A
score or patch of the red powder is put on some place, where it will
show to the best advantage. The eyes are blacked with khol. The
mistress and the better-looking females stain their teeth, and the
inside of the lips, of a yellow colour, with goora, the flower of the
tobacco plant, and the bark of a root; the outer parts of the lips,
hair, and eyebrows are stained with shunt, or prepared indigo.
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