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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The gigantic blocks of granite forming the mountain Almena, fearfully
piled on each other, and seeming ready to fall, are described as
resembling the rocks near the Logan stone in Cornwall, but on a scale
infinitely larger.
To the eastward, a range of high hills was seen
stretching from north to south, as far as the eye could reach, and
Lander was informed that they extended to the salt water. They were
said to be inhabited by a savage race of people called Yamyams, that
is cannibals, who had formerly carried on an extensive traffic with
the Houssa men, bringing elephants' teeth, and taking in exchange red
cloth, beads, &c., but five years before, they had murdered a whole
kafila of merchants, and afterwards eaten them, since which time, the
Houssa people had been reasonably shy of dealing with them.
Sultan Bello informed Lander that he had ocular proof of the fact,
that these same people are in the practice of eating human flesh. The
sultan said, that on the governor of Jacoba telling him of these
people, he could scarcely believe it, but on a Tuarick being hanged
for theft, he saw five of these people eat a part, with which he was
so disgusted, that he sent them back to Jacoba soon after. He said,
that whenever a person complained of sickness amongst these men, even
though only a slight headache, he is killed instantly, for fear he
should be lost by death, as they will not eat a person that has died
by sickness; that the person falling sick is requested by some other
family, and repaid when they had a sick relation; that universally,
when they went to war, the dead and wounded were always eaten; that
the hearts were claimed by the head men, and that on asking them, why
they ate human flesh, they said, it was better than any other, that
they had no want or food, and that excepting this bad custom, they
were very cleanly, and otherwise not bad people, except that they
were kaffirs.
As far as the route of Lander had hitherto extended, all the streams
that were crossed had a north-westerly course, and on the fifth day,
he reached a large river running in the same direction called Accra.
On the following day proceeding S. W., he arrived at Nammalack, built
immediately under a mountain, which, rising almost perpendicularly,
forms a natural wall on the north-eastern side. It is thickly wooded
and abounds with thousands of hyenas, tiger cats, jackals, and
monkeys, who monopolize all the animal food in the neighbourhood, the
poor inhabitants not being able to keep a single bullock, sheep, or
goat.
For four hours beyond this town, Lander's route continued along the
foot of this range of mountains, in a continued direction of S. W.,
it then turned eastward through an opening in the range, and after
crossing one large and three small rivers, led to Fillindushie, the
frontier town of Catica.
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