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 The Usual Lapse Of Time, The Boossa Messenger Returned, And To
Their Unspeakable Joy, Informed Them That The King Had Consented To
Procure For Them A Canoe, To Proceed To Funda, Provided The Road By
Land Could Not Be Depended On.
He, however, candidly stated his
inability to protect their persons from insult and danger beyond his
own territories, and
That they must solicit the good will of the
prince of Wowow, and the other rulers on the banks of the Niger, and
further, that their own men alone must manage the canoe, because no
one at Boossa would be willing, for various reasons, to accompany
them on the journey. They were, therefore, in a fair way of
accomplishing the object of the expedition. The sultan of Yaoorie,
however, put off their departure from day to day, and from week to
week, under a variety of nonsensical excuses, and they were persuaded
that it was his intention to detain them, until he had drained them
of every thing that was valuable. On Monday the 26th of July,
however, to their surprise and pleasure, a messenger from the king
of Boossa arrived, to ascertain the reason of such unwarrantable
conduct on the part of the sultan, and to request their immediate
release. One of the inducements urged by this monarch for their
longer stay with him, was rather whimsical. He had made them a
present of a quantity of worthless feathers, which he had caused to
be plucked from the body of a live ostrich, and because he
entertained an opinion that if others were added to them, they would
altogether form a very acceptable present to the king of England, he
informed them that it would be necessary they should wait till such
time as the ostrich should regain its plumage, in order for that part
of its body, which had not been previously plucked, to undergo a
similar operation, for the weather, he asserted, was much too cold
for the bird to lose all its feathers at one and the same time, and
further to encourage their growth, he would order that two thousand
kowries worth of butter, (about twelve pounds weight,) should be
diligently rubbed into the skin of the animal.
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