Maccarthy liked Laing's proposal and submitted it to the council. It was decided that Laing should be authorized to penetrate into Soolimana by the most convenient route for future communications.
Laing left Sierra Leone on the 16th April, 1824, and rowed up the Rokelle river to Rokon, the chief town of Timmannee. His interview with the King of Rokon was extremely amusing. To do him honour Laing had a salvo of ten charges fired as he came into the court in which the reception was to be held. At the noise the king stopped, drew back, darted a furious look at his visitor, and ran away. It was with great difficulty that the cowardly monarch was induced to return. At last he came back, and seating himself with great dignity in his chair of state he questioned the major:
"He wished to know," says Laing, "why he had been fired at, and was, with some difficulty, persuaded that it had been done out of honour to him. 'Why did you point your guns to the ground?' 'That you might see our intention was to show you respect.' 'But the pebbles flew in my face; why did you not point in the air?' 'Because we feared to burn the thatch on your houses.' 'Well, then, give me some rum.'"
Needless to add that the interview became more cordial after the major had complied with this request!
The portrait of the Timmannee monarch deserves a place in our volume for more than one reason. It is a case of ab uno disce omnes."
"Ba-Simera," to quote Laing again, "the principal chief or king of this part of the Timmannee country, is about ninety years of age, with a mottled, shrivelled-up skin, resembling in colour that of an alligator more than that of a human being, with dim, greenish eyes, far sunk in his head, and a bleached, twisted beard, hanging down about two feet from his chin; like the king of the opposite district he wore a necklace of coral and leopard's teeth, but his mantle was brown and dirty as his skin. His swollen legs, like those of an elephant, were to be observed from under his trousers of baft, which might have been originally white, but, from the wear of several years, had assumed a greenish appearance."
Like his predecessors in Africa, Laing had to go through many discussions about the right of passage through the country and bearers' wages, but thanks to his firmness he managed to escape the extortions of the negro kings. The chief halting-places on the route taken by the major were: Toma, where a white man had never before been seen; Balandeko, Roketchnick, which he ascertained to be situated in N. lat. 8° 30', and W. long. 12° 11'; Mabimg, beyond a very broad stream flowing north of the Rokelle; and Ma-Yosso, the chief frontier town of Timmannee. In Timmannee Laing made acquaintance with a singular institution, a kind of free-masonry, known as "Purrah," the existence of which on the borders of the Rio Nuñez had been already ascertained by Caillié.
"Their power" [that of the "Purrah">[, says Laing, "supersedes even that of the headmen of the districts, and their deeds of secrecy and darkness are as little called in question, or inquired into, as those of the Inquisition were in Europe, in former years. I have endeavoured in vain to trace the origin, or cause of formation of this extraordinary association, and have reason to suppose, that it is now unknown to the generality of the Timmannees, and may possibly be even so to the Purrah themselves, in a country where no traditionary records are extant, either in writing or in song."
So far as Laing could ascertain Timmannee is divided into three districts. The chief of each arrogates to himself the title of king. The soil is fairly productive, and rice, yams, guavas, earth-nuts, and bananas might be grown in plenty, but for the lazy, vicious, and avaricious character of the inhabitants who vie with each other in roguery.
"I think," says Laing, "that a few hoes, flails, rakes, shovels, &c., would be very acceptable to them, when their respective uses were practically explained; and that they would prove more beneficial both to their interest and ours, than the guns, cocked hats, and mountebank coats, with which they are at present supplied." In spite of our traveller's philanthropic wish, things have not changed since his time. The negroes are just as fond of intoxicating drinks, and their petty kings still go about wearing on grand occasions hats the shape of an accordion, and blue coats with copper buttons, with no shirts underneath. The maternal sentiment did not seem to Laing to be very fully developed amongst the people of Timmannee, for he was twice roundly abused by women for refusing to buy their children of them. A few days later there was a great tumult raised against Laing, the white man who had inflicted a fatal blow on the prosperity of the country by checking its trade. The first town entered in Kouranko was Maboum, and it is interesting to note en passant what Laing says of the activity of the inhabitants.