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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A Skin Is Spread On The Animal's Back, Upon Which, After
Hanging The Different Articles They Take For Sale, They Mount
Themselves.
Milk, sour and sweet, a little honey, lowls, gussub, and
gafooly, are amongst their wares; fat and meloheea (ochra), a green
herb, which, with the bazeen, all negroes eat voraciously, and indeed
Christians too, as was afterwards experienced.
The men brought oxen,
sheep, goats, and slaves; the latter were few in number, and in
miserable condition.
Woodie is a capital, or, as they say, blad kebir, and is governed by
a sheik, who is a eunuch, and a man of considerable importance; they
appear to have all the necessaries of life in abundance, and are the
most indolent people which the travellers ever met with. The women
spin a little cotton, and weave it into a coarse cloth of about six
inches width. The men either lie idling in their huts during the
whole of the day, or in the shade of a building formed by four
supporters and a thatched roof, which stands in an open space amongst
the huts; this is also the court of justice and the house of prayer.
The men are considerably above the common stature, and of an athletic
make, but have an expression of features particularly dull and heavy.
The town stands about one mile west of the Tchad, four short days'
march from Bornou.
The women, like the Tibboos, have a square piece of blue or white
cloth tied over one shoulder, which forms their whole covering; their
hair is, however, curiously and laboriously trained, and it was
observed, that no one of tender years had any thing like a perfect head
of hair.
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