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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Long Before Sunrise On The 8th November, Though It Was Excessively
Dark, The Canoes Were Put In Motion; For As The Eboe Country Was Said
To Be At No Great Distance, The Eboe People Who Were With Them, Were
Desirous Of Arriving There As Early In The Day As Possible.
It proved
to be a dull hazy morning, but at 7 o'clock the fog had become so
dense, that no object, however large, could be distinguished at a
greater distance than a few yards.
This created considerable
confusion, and the men fearing, as they expressed it, to lose
themselves, tied one canoe to another, thus forming double canoes,
and all proceeded together in close company. The Landers wished to be
more particular in their observations of this interesting part of
their journey, but were constrained to forego that gratification, on
account of the superstitious prejudices of the natives, who were so
infatuated as to imagine, that the Landers had not only occasioned
the fog, but that if they did not sit or lie down in the canoe, for
they had been standing, it would inevitably cause the destruction of
the whole party, and the reason they assigned, was, that the river
had never beheld a white man before; and, therefore, they dreaded the
consequences of their rashness and presumption in regarding its
waters so attentively. This and similar nonsense was delivered with
such determination and earnestness, that they reluctantly laid down,
and allowed themselves to be covered with mats, in order to quiet
their apprehensions; for they did not forget that they were
prisoners, and that a perseverance in standing up, would have exposed
them to the mortification of being put down by force.
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