A General History And Collection Of Voyages And Travels - Volume 2 - By Robert Kerr


















































































































 -  In cultivating the ground, four or five of them go
into a field with spades, with which they turn up - Page 95
A General History And Collection Of Voyages And Travels - Volume 2 - By Robert Kerr - Page 95 of 219 - First - Home

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In Cultivating The Ground, Four Or Five Of Them Go Into A Field With Spades, With Which They Turn Up The Soil About Four Inches Deep; Yet Such Is The Fertility Of The Soil, That It Makes Ample Returns For This Slight Culture, Without Any Farther Trouble.

The liquors of the Negroes are water, milk, and palm wine, which they call mighol, or migwol, which is taken from a tree of the palm tribe, very numerous in this country, somewhat like the date tree, but not the same, and which furnishes this liquor the whole year round.

The trees are tapped in two or three places near the root, and from these wounds a brown juice runs out, as thin as skimmed milk, into calabasses that are placed to receive the liquor, which drops but slowly, as one tree will only fill two calabasses from morning till night. This migwol, or palm- wine, is an exceedingly pleasant drink, which intoxicates like wine unless mixed with water. Immediately after it is drawn from the tree it is as sweet as any wine whatever; but the luscious taste goes off more and more as it is kept, and at length it becomes sour. It drinks better than at first after three or four days, as it depurates by keeping, and is not so sweet. I have often drank of it, indeed every day that I remained in the country, and liked it better than the wines of Italy. This liquor is not so abundant as that every one may have it at discretion; yet all may have some, especially the chiefs, as the trees are not planted in gardens, like vines and fruit trees in Europe, but are found wild in the forests, and are consequently accessible to all.

In this country there are several sorts of fruit which resemble those of Europe, though not exactly the same, and which are very good, though they grow wild; and, were they to be cultivated as ours are, would prove much better than such as are produced in the northern climates, the quality of the soil and air in this part of Africa being more nutritive. The whole country is plain and fertile, abounding in good pasture, and is covered by an infinite number of large and beautiful trees, that are not known in Europe. It contains several lakes of fresh water, none of them large, but very deep, and full of excellent fish, which differ much from those that are caught in Italy, and many water serpents, which the natives call _Kalkatrici_. They use a kind of oil with their victuals, which tastes like oil of olives, has a pleasant flavour of violets, and tinges the food even better than saffron, but I could not learn what it was produced from[1]. There is likewise a plant which produces large quantities of small kidney-beans.

In this country there are many kinds of animals, but serpents are particularly numerous, both large and small, some of which are venomous. The large ones are more than two paces long[2], but have neither legs nor wings, as has been reported by some persons, but some of them are so very thick as to have swallowed a goat at one morsel. These serpents retire in troops, as the natives report, to certain parts of the country where white ants are found in prodigious swarms, and which, by a kind of instinct, are said to build houses for these serpents, of earth which they carry in their months for that purpose, resembling ovens, and often to the number of 150 in one place[3]. The Negroes are great enchanters, and use charms upon almost all occasions, particularly in regard to serpents, over which they have great power. A Genoese, worthy of credit, who was in this country the year before my arrival, and who likewise lodged with Bisboror, the nephew of Budomel, told me he once heard a load noise of whistling about the house in the middle of the night. Being awakened by the noise, he saw Bisboror get out of bed and order two negroes to bring his camel. Being asked where he meant to go at that time of night, he said he had business which must be executed, but would soon return. On coming back after some time, and the Genoese expressing curiosity to learn the object in which he had been engaged, Bisboror asked if he had heard the hissing noise about the house during the night, and said that it had been made by the serpents, which would have killed a great many of his cattle, if he had not sent them back to their quarters by the employment of certain enchantments. The Genoese was astonished at this story, but Bisboror said he had no need to wonder at this small matter, as Budomed could do a great deal more extraordinary things with the serpents than he could. In particular, when he had a mind to envenom his weapons, he used to draw a large circle, into which, by means of his enchantments, he brought all the serpents of the neighbourhood, from which he selected those he thought most poisonous, and allowed all the others to go away. With the blood of these serpents, mixed up with the seeds of a certain tree, he infected his weapons with so deadly a poison, that, if they drew but the least drop of blood, the person or animal wounded by them was sure to die in a quarter of an hour. Bisboror farther offered to shew him an example of the efficacy of this art, but the Genoese declined witnessing the experiment. This story of the serpents is the more probable, that I have heard of persons in Italy who could charm them in a similar manner; but I am apt to believe that the Negroes are the most expert sorcerers in the world.

The only tame animals in the kingdom of Senegal are oxen, cows, and goats; having no sheep, which love a temperate or cold air, and could not live in this hot climate.

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