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 People, Surely, Cannot Be Aware Of Their Own Danger, Or
They Never Would Be Unconcerned Spectators Of The Events, Which Are
Rapidly Tending To Root Out Their Religion, Customs, And
Institutions, And Totally Annihilate Them As A Nation.
But since they
have neither foresight, nor wisdom, nor resolution to put themselves
in a posture of defence, and
Make at least a show of resistance, when
danger real or imaginary menaces them; since neither the love of
country, which stimulates all nations to heroic achievements in
defence of their just and natural rights, and all that is truly dear
to them in the world; and since neither affection for their
defenceless wives and unprotected offspring, nor love of self can
awaken a single spark of courage or patriotism in their bosoms, can
scare away that demon sloth from among them, or induce them to make a
solitary exertion to save themselves and posterity from a foreign
yoke; why then, they are surely unworthy to be called a people; they
deserve to be deprived of their effects, children, and personal
liberty, to have their habitual sloth and listlessness converted into
labour and usefulness, in tilling, improving, and beautifying for
strangers, that soil, which they have neither spirit nor inclination
to cultivate for themselves.
A market is held daily in different parts of Katunga, but there are
two days in the week, in which it is much larger and more numerously
attended than on any of the other days. One is styled the queen's
market, but in the evening, when it is held in another place, it is
called the king's market. To make a market profitable, the sellers
and buyers should be equal, for where either predominate, the
advantage cannot be mutual; if the buyers exceed the sellers, the
articles sold will rise in price, and on the other hand, if the
sellers exceed the buyers, a depreciation in the price will take
place. The latter case was observed to prevail in the markets of
Katunga, and which was in a degree a direct proof that the supply
surpassed the population. The articles chiefly exposed for sale were,
several different kinds of corn, beans, peas, and vegetables, in
great abundance and variety; the butter extracted from the mi-cadama
tree, country cotton cloths, red clay, ground or guinea nuts, salt,
indigo, and different kinds of pepper; snuff and tobacco, trona,
knives, barbs, hooks, and needles, the latter of the rudest native
manufacture. There were also finger rings of tin and lead, and iron
bracelets and armlets, old shells, old bones, and other venerable
things, which the members of the society of antiquaries would
estimate as articles of real vertu; a great variety of beads both
of native and European manufacture, among the former of which was
recognised the famous Agra bead, which at Cape Coast Castle, Accra,
and other places, is sold for its weight in gold, and which has been
in vain attempted to be imitated by the Italians and our own
countrymen.
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