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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After Passing Rather An Unpleasant, And In Many Instances
An Insalubrious Night, The Travellers Landed, About Half-Past Eight
In The Morning, In The Sight Of A Great Multitude, That Had Assembled
To Gaze At Them.
Passing through a place, where a large fair or market is held, and
where many thousands of people had congregated for the purpose of
trade, they entered an extensive and romantic town, called Wow, which
is situated in a valley.
The majority of the inhabitants had never
before had an opportunity of seeing white men, so that their
curiosity, as may be supposed, was excessive. Two of the principal
persons came out to meet them, preceded by men bearing large silk
umbrellas, and another playing a horn, which produced such terrible
sounds, that they were glad to take refuge, as soon as they could, in
the chief's house. The apartment, into which they were introduced was
furnished with a roof precisely like that of a common English barn
inverted. In the middle of it, which reached to within a few inches
of the floor, a large square hole had been made to admit air and
water to a shrub that was growing directly under it. The most
remarkable, if not the only ornament in the room, were a number of
human jaw bones, hung upon the side of the wall, like a string of
onions. After a form and ceremonious introduction, they were
liberally regaled with water from a calabash, which is a compliment
the natives pay all strangers, and then they were shown into a very
small apartment.
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