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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In This Dejected State Of Mind, They Passed The
Night By The Side Of A Dim Fire.
In the course of the following day Mr. Park was informed, that a
nephew of Demba Sego Jalla, the Mandingo king of Kasson, was coming
to visit him.
The prince had been sent out on a mission to Batcheri,
king of Kajaaga, to endeavour to settle some disputes between his
uncle and the latter, in which, having been unsuccessful, he was on
his return to Kasson, to which place he offered to conduct Mr. Park,
provided he would set out on the following morning.
Mr. Park gratefully accepted this offer, and, with his attendants,
was ready to set out by daylight on the 27th of December. The retinue
of Demba Sego was numerous, the whole amounting, on the departure
from Joag, to thirty persons and six loaded asses. Having proceeded
for some hours, they came to a tree, for which Johnson had made
frequent inquiry, and here, having desired them to stop, he produced
a white chicken he had purchased at Joag for the purpose, and tied it
by the leg to one of the branches; he then declared they might now
proceed without fear, for their journey would be prosperous. This
circumstance exhibits the power of superstition over the minds of the
negroes, for although this man had resided seven years in England, he
retained all the prejudices imbibed in his youth. He meant this
ceremony, he told Mr. Park, as an offering to the spirits of the
wood, who were a powerful race of beings, of a white colour, with
long flowing hair.
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