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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Surely," Concludes Lander,
"They Have Knowingly Deceived Us."
The Landers were now placed in a most unpleasant predicament; they
could not possibly obtain a canoe according to the
Promise of the
king of Wowow, and to take those which had been lent them by the
chief of Patashie, appeared such a breach of confidence, that they
could not prevail upon themselves to commit it, but the necessity of
the case pleaded strongly in their favour. They had not the means of
purchasing the canoes of the chief of Patashie, as the king of Wowow
had adroitly managed to exhaust them of nearly all their resources;
but when they began to talk of prosecuting their journey in the
canoes belonging to the chief of Patashie, the canoe men stoutly
resisted their right: fortunately, however, for them, their busy,
restless friend Ducoo interfered on their behalf, and soon silenced
their remarks, by threatening to cut off the head of him who should
presume from that time to set foot in either of the canoes; and in
order to give his menace the greater weight, he stationed two of his
men to guard the forbidden boats till the sun went down, with drawn
swords, and during the greater part of the night, another of his men
paraded up and down the banks of the river near the spot as a watch,
and this man kept up a noise by continually playing on a drum.
The four messengers, who had accompanied them from Wowow and Boossa,
had hitherto been a great encumbrance upon the Landers, as their
maintenance was by no means inconsiderable, at the same time, they
were themselves in some measure dependent upon the native chiefs for
their support.
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