Travels into the Interior of Africa (7 page)

With these worthy people I spent the remainder of that, and the whole of the ensuing day, in feasting and merriment; and the blacksmith declared he would not quit me during my stay at Kooniakary, for which place we set out early on the morning of the 14th of January, and arrived about the middle of the day at Soolo, a small village three miles to the south of it.

As this place was somewhat out of the direct road, it is necessary to observe that I went thither to visit a Slatee, or Gambia trader, of great note and reputation, named Salim Daucari. He was well known to Dr Laidley, who had trusted him with effects to the value of five slaves, and had given me an order for the whole of the debt. We luckily found him at home, and he received me with great kindness and attention.

It is remarkable, however, that the king of Kasson was by some means immediately apprised of my motions; for I had been at Soolo but a few hours, before Sambo Sego, his second son, came thither with a party of horse, to enquire what had prevented me from proceeding to
Kooniakary
, and waiting immediately upon the king, who, he said, was impatient to see me. Salim Daucari made my apology, and promised to accompany me to Kooniakary the same evening; we accordingly departed from Soolo at sunset, and in about an hour entered Kooniakary. But as the king had gone to sleep, we deferred the interview till next morning, and slept at the hut of Sambo Sego.

My interview with the king, and the incidents which occurred to me in the kingdoms of Kasson and Kaarta, will be the subject of the ensuing chapter.

A
BOUT EIGHT O’CLOCK
in the morning of January 15, 1796, we went to an audience of the king (Demba Sego Jalla); but the crowd of people to see me was so great, that I could scarcely get admittance. A passage being at length obtained, I made my bow to the monarch, whom we found sitting upon a mat, in a large hut; he appeared to be a man of about sixty years of age; his success in war, and the mildness of his behaviour in time of peace, had much endeared him to all his subjects. He surveyed me with great attention; and when Salim Daucari explained to him the object of my journey, and my reasons for passing through his country, the good old king appeared not only perfectly satisfied, but promised me every assistance in his power. He informed me that he had seen Major Houghton, and presented him with a white horse; but that after crossing the kingdom of Kaarta, he had lost his life among the Moors; in what manner he could not inform me. When this audience was ended, we returned to our lodging, and I made up a small present for the king out of the few effects that were left me; for I had not yet received anything from Salim Daucari. This present, though inconsiderable in itself, was well received by the king, who sent me in return a large white bullock. The sight of this animal quite delighted my attendants; not so much on account of its bulk, as from its being of a white colour, which is considered as a particular mark of favour. But although the king himself was well disposed towards me, and readily granted me permission to pass through his territories, I soon discovered that very great and unexpected obstacles were likely to impede my progress. Besides the war which was on the point of breaking out between Kasson and Kajaaga, I was told that the next kingdom of Kaarta, through which my route lay, was involved in the issue; and was furthermore threatened with hostilities on the part of Bambarra. The king himself informed me of these circumstances, and advised me to stay in the neighbourhood of Kooniakary, till such time as he could procure proper information respecting Bambarra, which he expected to do in the course of four or five days, as he had already, he said, sent four messengers into Kaarta for that purpose. I readily submitted to this proposal, and went to Soolo, to stay there till the return of one of those messengers. This afforded me a favourable opportunity of receiving what money Salim Daucari could spare me on Dr Laidley’s account. I succeeded in receiving the value of three slaves, chiefly in gold dust; and being anxious to proceed as quickly as possible, I begged Daucari to use his interest with the king to allow me a guide by the way of Fooladoo, as I was informed that the war had already commenced between the kings of Bambarra and Kaarta. Daucari accordingly set out for Kooniakary on the morning of the 20th, and the same evening returned with the king’s answer, which was to this purpose; that the king had many years ago made an agreement with Daisy, king of Kaarta, to send all merchants and travellers through his dominions; but that if I wished to take the route through Fooladoo, I had his permission so to do; though he could not, consistently with his agreement, lend me a guide. Having felt the want of regal protection in a former part of my journey, I was unwilling to hazard a repetition of the hardships I had then experienced, especially as the money I had received was probably the last supply that I should obtain; I therefore determined to wait for the return of the messengers from Kaarta.

In the interim it began to be whispered abroad that I had received plenty of gold from Salim Daucari; and on the morning of the 23rd Sambo Sego paid me a visit with a party of horsemen. He insisted upon knowing the exact amount of the money I had obtained, declaring, that whatever the sum was, one half of it must go to the king; besides which, he intimated that he expected a handsome present for himself, as being the king’s son, and for his attendants, as being the king’s relations. The reader will easily perceive, that if all these demands had been satisfied, I should not have been overburdened with money; but though it was very mortifying to me to comply with the demands of injustice, and so arbitrary an exaction, yet, thinking it was highly dangerous to make a foolish resistance, and irritate the lion when within the reach of his paw, I prepared to submit; and if Salim Daucari had not interposed, all my endeavours to mitigate this oppressive claim would have been of no avail. Salim at last prevailed upon Sambo to accept sixteen bars of European merchandise, and some powder and ball, as a complete payment of every demand that could be made upon me in the kingdom of Kasson.

January 26th
– In the forenoon, I went to the top of a high hill to the southward of Soolo, where I had a most enchanting prospect of the country. The number of towns and villages, and the extensive cultivation around them, surpassed everything I had yet seen in Africa. A gross calculation may be formed of the number of inhabitants in this delightful plain by considering that the king of Kasson can raise four thousand fighting men by the sound of his war drum. In traversing the rocky eminences of this hill, which are almost destitute of vegetation, I observed a number of large holes in the crevices and fissures of the rocks, where the wolves and hyenas take refuge during the day. Some of these animals paid us a visit on the evening of the 27th; their approach was discovered by the dogs of the village; and on this occasion, it is remarkable that the dogs did not bark, but howl in the most dismal manner. The inhabitants of the village no sooner heard them, than, knowing the cause, they armed themselves; and providing bunches of dry grass, went in a body to the enclosure in the middle of the village where the cattle were kept. Here they lighted the bunches of grass, and, waving them to and fro, ran hooping and hallooing towards the hills. This manoeuvre had the desired effect of frightening the wolves away from the village, but, on examination, we found that they had killed five of the cattle, and torn and wounded many others.

February 1st
– The messengers arrived from Kaarta, and brought
intelligence
that the war had not yet commenced between Bambarra and Kaarta, and that I might probably pass through Kaarta before the Bambarra army invaded that country.

February 3rd
– Early in the morning two guides on horseback came from Kooniakary to conduct me to the frontiers of Kaarta. I accordingly took leave of Salim Daucari, and parted, for the last time, from my
fellow-traveller
, the blacksmith, whose kind solicitude for my welfare had been so conspicuous; and about ten o’clock departed from Soolo. We travelled this day through a rocky and hilly country, along the banks of the river Krieko, and at sunset came to the village of Soomo, where we slept.

February 4th
– We departed from Soomo, and continued our route along the banks of the Krieko, which are everywhere well cultivated, and swarm with inhabitants. At this time they were increased by the number of people that had flown thither from Kaarta on account of the Bambarra war. In the afternoon we reached Kimo, a large village, the residence of Madi Konko, governor of the hilly country of Kasson, which is called Sorroma. From hence the guides appointed by the king of Kasson returned to join in the expedition against Kajaaga; and I waited until the 6th before I could prevail on Madi Konko to appoint me a guide to Kaarta.

February 7th
– Departing from Kimo, with Madi Konko’s son as a guide, we continued our course along the banks of the Krieko until the
afternoon
, when we arrived at Kangee, a considerable town. The Krieko is here but a small rivulet. This beautiful stream takes its rise a little to the eastward of this town, and descends with a rapid and noisy current until it reaches the bottom of the high hill called Tappa, where it becomes more placid, and winds gently through the lovely plains of Kooniakary; after which, having received an additional branch from the north, it is lost in the Senegal, somewhere near the falls of Felow.

February 8th
– This day we travelled over a rough stony country, and having passed Seimpo and a number of other villages, arrived in the afternoon at Lackerago, a small village which stands upon the ridge of hills that separates the kingdoms of Kasson and Kaarta. In the course of the day we passed many hundreds of people flying from Kaarta, with their families and effects.

February 9th
– Early in the morning we departed from Lackerago, and a little to the eastward came to the brow of a hill, from whence we had an extensive view of the country. Towards the south-east were perceived some very distant hills, which our guide told us were the mountains of Fooladoo. We travelled with great difficulty down a stony and abrupt precipice, and continued our way in the bed of a dry river-course; where the trees, meeting overhead, made the place dark and cool. In a little time we reached the bottom of this romantic glen, and about ten o’clock emerged from between two rocky hills, and found ourselves on the level and sandy plains of Kaarta. At noon we arrived at a Korree, or watering place, where, for a few strings of beads, I purchased as much milk and corn-meal as we could eat; indeed provisions are here so cheap, and the shepherds live in such affluence, that they seldom ask any return for what refreshments a traveller receives from them. From this Korree we reached Feesurah at sunset, where we took up our lodging for the night.

February 10th
– We continued at Feesurah all this day, to have a few clothes washed, and learn more exactly the situation of affairs before we ventured towards the capital.

February 11th
– Our landlord, taking advantage of the unsettled state of the country, demanded so extravagant a sum for our lodging, that suspecting he wished for an opportunity to quarrel with us, I refused to submit to his exorbitant demand; but my attendants were so much frightened at the reports of approaching war, that they refused to proceed any further, unless I could settle matters with him, and induce him to accompany us to Kemmoo, for our protection on the road. This I accomplished with some difficulty, and by a present of a blanket which I had brought with me to sleep in, and for which our landlord had conceived a very great liking. Matters were at length amicably adjusted, and he mounted his horse and led the way. He was one of those Negroes who, together with the ceremonial part of the Mohammedan religion, retain all their ancient superstitions, and even drink strong liquors. They are called Johars, or Jowers, and in this kingdom form a very numerous and powerful tribe. We had no sooner got into a dark and lonely part of the first wood, than he made a sign for us to stop, and taking hold of a hollow piece of bamboo, that hung as an amulet round his neck, whistled very loud, three times. I confess I was somewhat startled, thinking it was a signal for some of his companions to come and attack us; but he assured me that it was done merely with a view to ascertain what success we were likely to meet with on our present journey. He then dismounted, laid his spear across the road, and having said a number of short prayers, concluded with three loud whistles; after which he listened for some time, as if in expectation of an answer, and receiving none, told us we might proceed without fear, for there was no danger. About noon we passed a number of large villages quite deserted, the inhabitants having fled into Kasson to avoid the horrors of war. We reached Karankalla at sunset; this formerly was a large town, but having been plundered by the Bambarrans about four years ago, nearly one half of it is still in ruins.

February 12th
– At daylight we departed from Karankalla, and as it was but a short day’s journey to Kemmoo, we travelled slower than usual, and amused ourselves by collecting such eatable fruits as grew near the roadside. In this pursuit I had wandered a little from my people, and being uncertain whether they were before or behind me, I hastened to a rising ground to look about me. As I was proceeding towards this eminence, two Negro horsemen, armed with muskets, came galloping from among the bushes; on seeing them I made a full stop; the horsemen did the same; and all three of us seemed equally surprised and
confounded
at this interview. As I approached them their fears increased, and one of them, after casting upon me a look of horror, rode off at full speed; the other in a panic of fear, put his hands over his eyes, and continued muttering prayers until his horse, seemingly without the rider’s knowledge, conveyed him slowly after his companion. About a mile to the westward they fell in with my attendants, to whom they related a frightful story. It seems their fears had dressed me in the flowing robes of a tremendous spirit; and one of them affirmed that, when I made my appearance, a cold blast of wind came pouring down upon him from the sky, like so much cold water. About noon we saw at a distance the capital of Kaarta, situated in the middle of an open plain, the country for two miles round being cleared of wood, by the great consumption of that article for building and fuel, and we entered the town about two o’clock in the afternoon.