They Were As Much Astonished At My Dress, Being Clothed In The
Spanish Fashion, With A Black Damask Waistcoat, And A Cloak Over It:
They
seemed much surprised at the waistcoat, and greatly admired the woollen
cloth, which they had never seen any of before.
My chief purpose in going
to these fairs, was to see what quantity of gold was brought thither.
Horses are very scarce, and of great value in the country of the Negroes,
being brought all the way from that part of Barbary which lies nearest to
Europe, by the Arabs and Azanhaji. Owing to the great heat, horses do not
live long here; for they grow so fat that they cannot stale, and so burst.
They are fed with bean leaves, which are gathered after the beans are
brought from the fields; and, being dried like hay, are cut small, and
given to the horses instead of oats. They give millet also, which
contributes greatly to make them fat. A horse and his furniture sells for
from nine to fourteen negroes, according to his goodness and beauty; and
when a negro lord buys a horse, he sends for his horse sorcerers, who
cause a fire to be kindled of the stalks of certain herbs, and hold the
horses head by the bridle over the smoke, while they repeat over some few
words by way of incantation. They afterwards have him anointed all over
with fine oil, and having kept him eighteen or twenty days, without
allowing any one to see him, they affix some Moorish charms to his neck,
which have the appearance of small square billets of writing, folded up
and covered with red leather; and affirm, that, they will go into battle
with greater safety by means of these scrolls or annulets.
The women of this country are very pleasant and merry, especially the
young ones, and delight in singing and dancing, taking this diversion
only at night by moonlight; and their manner of dancing is very different
from that of the Italians. Many things in our ships seemed wonderful to
the Negroes, particularly our cross-bows; but much more our artillery.
When some of them were on board my ship, I caused one of the guns to be
fired off, which threw them into a dreadful panic; and their terror was
much increased on being told that one cannon-shot could kill an hundred
men. On which account, they alleged that it must be something belonging
to the devil. They were likewise greatly astonished at a bag-pipe, which,
one of our sailors played upon to divert them; and, on examining the
several parts and ornaments of the instrument, they conceived that it was
a living animal, which sung in different voices. Observing their
simplicity, I told them it was a musical instrument, and put it into
their hand unblown to examine. They then perceived that it was a work of
art, but believed that it was something supernatural, and could only have
been devised by a superior being, it sounded so sweetly, and in so many
different tones, having never heard any thing which could be compared to
it in their estimation.
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