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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They Had Put Themselves In A
Fever By Walking A Journey Of Two Days In One, And Were Likely To
Walk the remainder of the way to Jenna in the glare and heat of the
sun, for they had no
Umbrellas to screen themselves from his rays.
Richard Lander paid eighty dollars for one of the horses, but
Adooley forgot to return the coin, and likewise kept for his own use
a couple of saddles which were purchased at Accra. Late in the
evening the expected carriers arrived with the luggage, some of which
had been wetted and damaged in the marshes. They were now informed
that horses would be sent them on the following day from Jenna.
During the greater part of the afternoon, Richard Lander amused
himself in teaching the simple hearted chief to play on a child's
penny Jews-harp, many of which they had brought with them as
presents; but his proficiency, owing to a wonderfully capacious
mouth, and teeth of extraordinary size, was not near so flattering as
could have been wished. His people, however, who had assembled in
extraordinary numbers, were of a different opinion, and when they
heard their chief draw the first sound from the little instrument,
"shouts of applause ran rattling to the skies."
A traveller in England, who enjoys the goodness of the roads, does
not often murmur at the demands which are made upon his purse by the
turnpike-keepers, but in Africa the frequency of the turnpikes on the
road from Badagry to Bidjie, was a matter of some surprise to the
Landers. Human beings carrying burthens are the only persons who pay
the turnpikes, for as to a horse or a carriage passing through them,
it would be a scene of the greatest wonder. The Landers, however,
enjoyed the same privilege as the royal family of England, for being
under the protection of the government, they as well as all their
suite and baggage passed toll free.
On Sunday, April 4th, they arose at sunrise to make the necessary
arrangements for leaving Bidjie, which was no easy task, and shortly
after they sent to signify their intention to the chief. He expressed
a desire to see them as soon as they could conveniently come,
accordingly after breakfast, they repaired to his habitation, which
was contiguous to their own. After being conducted through a number
of yards and huts, inhabited only by goats and sheep, which were
tethered to posts, and a number of tame pigeons, they perceived the
object of their visit squatting on a leopard's skin, under a decent
looking verandah. He was surrounded by his drummers, and other
distinguished persons, who made room for the travellers as they drew
near. But the chief arose as soon as he saw them, and beckoning them
to follow him, they were ushered through a labyrinth of low huts, and
still lower doors, till at last they entered the innermost apartment
of the whole suite, and here they were requested to sit down and
drink rum. The doors they had seen were covered with figures of men,
which exactly resembled certain rude attempts at portraying the human
body, which may still be observed in several old chapels and churches
in the west of England. The chief informed them that they were at
liberty to quit Bidjie, as soon as the heat of the sun should have
somewhat abated, but previously to their departure he promised to
return their visit. On leaving the place he followed them, though
without their knowledge; but finding that they walked faster than he
did, and that he could not keep pace with them, being a very bulky
man, he hastily despatched a messenger to inform them that kings in
Africa, whatever they may do elsewhere, always walk with a slow and
measured step, and that the strides of the travellers being long and
vulgar, he would thank them to lessen their speed, and stop awhile to
enable him to come up with them, which was of course agreed to by the
travellers with great good will. A few minutes afterwards he reached
their house, dressed in a tobe of green silk damask, very rich and
showy, and a skull cap made of purple and crimson velvet. With the
exception of strings of white beads, which encircled his arms, he
used no personal ornaments. He remained chattering with them for a
long time.
Many of the women of Bidjie have the flesh on their foreheads risen
in the shape of marbles, and their cheeks are similarly cut up
deformed. The lobes of their ears are likewise pierced, and the holes
made surprisingly large, for the insertion of pieces of and ivory
into them, which is a prevailing fashion with all ranks.
The church service was read this morning agreeably to their general
custom. The natives, of whose society they were never able to rid
themselves, seemed to attach great awe and reverence to their form of
worship, for they had made them understand what if they were going
about, which induced them to pay a high degree of silent attention to
the ceremony, and set at rest for the time, that peculiar continuous
laugh by which they are distinguished from their neighbours. In the
afternoon, or as the natives express it, when the sun had lost its
strength, they departed from the town of Bidjie, accompanied by its
good natured, happy governor, and in a very few minutes afterwards
reached the banks of a rivulet called Yow. Butterflies were here more
numerous than could be imagined, millions of them fluttered around
them, and literally hid from their sight every thing but their own
variegated and beautiful wings.
Here on the banks of the Yow they took a last farewell of the
affectionate old chief, who implored the "Great God," to bless them,
and as the canoes in which they had embarked moved from the spot, a
loud long laugh, with clapping of hands from the lower classes,
evinced the satisfaction they felt at having seen the white men, and
their hearty wishes for their welfare.
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