This
Made The Arabs And Azanhaji Extremely Angry; But Budomel Laughed On The
Occasion, And Said, That He Considered The Religion Of The Christians To
Be Good, As God Alone Could Have Gifted Them With So Much Riches And
Understanding.
He added, however, that in his opinion the Mahometan law
must be good also; and he believed, that the
Negroes were more sure of
salvation than the Christians, because God was just, who had given a
paradise to the Christians in this world, and would certainly give one to
the Negroes in the next, as they possessed scarcely any good in this world
in comparison. In all his discourse he shewed a good understanding, and
took great pleasure in hearing the customs of the Christians described. I
firmly believe he might easily have been converted to Christianity, had it
not been from fear of losing his power, as I was often told by his nephew,
with whom I lodged, and he took great delight in hearing me discourse of
our religion. The table of Budomel, like all other lords and people of
condition in this country, is supplied by his wives, in the same manner as
has been already mentioned in regard to Zukholin, the king of Senegal;
each wife sending him a certain number of dishes every day. He and the
other lords eat on the ground, without any regularity or company, except
the Arabs and Azanhaji, who are their teachers and priests, and one or two
of their principal negro attendants. The inferior people eat in messes of
ten or twelve each, having a basket full of victuals set in the midst,
into which all put their hands at the same time. They eat but little at
one meal, but repeat these four or five times a day.
[1] The text seems corrupted in giving so large a distance between the
Senegal river and this country of king Budomel, as 800 miles to the
south, or rather S. S. E. would carry us to what is called the _grain_,
or windward coast of Guinea, in lat. 6 deg. N. and, from the sequel, Cada
Mosto does not appear to have passed Cape Verd till after quitting the
country of Budomel. According to Brue, as quoted by Clarke, the king
of Kayor or Kayhor was styled Damel. Kayor or Cayor appears on our
maps above an hundred miles up the Senegal, and on its north side,
which therefore can have no reference to the place in the text. I am
disposed to believe, that the distance in the text ought only to have
been 80 miles, and that the territory of Budomel was in the country of
the Jalofs, between the Senegal and Cape Verd, at the mouth of a small
river, on which our charts place two towns, Masaye and Enibaul, in lat.
15 deg. 20' N. - E.
[2] The grosso, or Venetian groat, is worth about three farthings. - Astl.
SECTION VI.
_Account of the Country of Budomel continued_.
On account of the great heats in the kingdom of Senegal, and all the
other countries of the Negroes on the coast, no wheat, rye, barley, or
spelt, can grow, neither are vines cultivated, as we knew experimentally
from a trial made with seeds from our ship:
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