Travels in Western Africa, in the years 1818, 19, 20, and 21, from the river Gambia, through Woolli, Bondoo, Galam, Kasson, Kaarta, and Foolidoo, to the river Niger

by Major William Gray; Staff Surgeon Dochard

There are, on the banks of the river, a little above Yanimaroo, a great number of the self-consuming tree. We never saw any of them on fire, nor yet smoking, but their appearance would lead a person to suppose they had been burnt.

On our arrival at Kayaye, we landed our men, animals, and baggage, and encamped on an elevated spot between the river and the town, which are distant from each other about half a quarter of a mile.

Mr. Bellaby, a British merchant resident there, accommodated us with a large mud house, which served at the same time as quarters for the officers, and a store for some of our baggage.

Kayaye is but a very small and insignificant village, and is remarkable for nothing but its situation, and the residence of a Mulatto lady, who possesses considerable influence in the country. The town does not contain above fifty huts; its inhabitants are all either relatives to, or dependants on Madame Eliza Tigh, whose name the place takes, being called by the natives Tigh Cunda, or the town of Tigh. The people of Kayaye, and the neighbouring towns, are a mixture of Mandingoes and Sousous; the former from a country in the interior so called, and the latter from the south bank of the river. They are chiefly engaged in trade and agriculture, and are a very shrewd active race, subject to the king of Katoba, and professing the Mahomedan religion; but I believe the greater proportion of them do so, not from any religious motive, but in order to ensure to themselves that protection which the followers of Mahomet invariably meet with, wherever they go in their trading excursions. Caravans from the interior frequently stop there, on their way to the settlements on the coast, and dispose of their goods to the masters of some of the small trading vessels from St. Mary’s, or to the native merchants, who carry on at that place, and the towns lower down the river, a very considerable trade in gold, ivory, and bees’ wax; in exchange for which they receive fire-arms, powder, India-goods, coral, amber, glass beads, iron, tobacco, rum, and cutlery.

The dress of these people is far from being inelegant or inconvenient: the men wear on the head a white cotton cap, very neatly worked with different coloured silks or worsteds; a close shirt of white cotton, with short sleeves, next the skin, covers the body from the neck to the hips, and is surmounted by a very large one of the same materials, with long loose sleeves, not unlike a surplice; this descends below the knees, and is embroidered, in the same way as the cap, about the shoulders and breast. The small-clothes, which are very roomy above, descend about two inches below the knee, where it is only sufficiently large not to be tight. This part of their dress is generally blue. They wear their hair cut close, and make use of none of the grease or rancid butter of which the Joloff men are so lavish. Sandals or slippers protect their feet from the heat of the sand, and from thorns; and complete the catalogue of their wardrobe.

The dress of the women is neither so decent nor so clean. The body, from the waist upward, is almost always naked, except when enceinte, in which case a sort of short chemise, without sleeves, covers the neck and stomach. They plat their hair neatly into a profusion of small braids, but are so lavish of butter or palm oil on them and their skins (which are generally of a very fine black) that they cannot be approached without experiencing the very unpleasant effects of such anointings, rendered doubly offensive by the addition of profuse and constant perspiration.

The huts and yards of these people are extremely clean, and, although small, are comparatively comfortable. The walls of both are, for the most part, composed of split cane formed into a sort of wicker work resembling hurdles. The roofs of the former are conical, and covered with long dry grass, fastened on with a small line made from the inner bark of the monkey-bread tree. On the whole, their houses have a very neat appearance.

The amusements of these people are confined to dancing and music, which take place almost every fine evening at a late hour, in the centre of the village, where, when the moon does not afford them light, a large fire is made for that purpose.

The young of both sexes, dressed in their gayest attire, attend on these occasions; a ring is formed by them and the spectators, and the former dance in regular succession by pairs. The instrument which accompanies this dance is called a ballafo[6], and affords better music than might be expected from such rude materials; it is composed of cane and wood, in the following manner. A frame, three feet long, eighteen inches wide at one end, and nine at the other, is made of cane, split very thin, and supported at the corners, about nine inches from the ground, by four upright sticks of nearly an inch diameter; across this frame are laid twenty pieces of hard wood, diminishing in size in the same proportion progressively, from one end to the other, as the frame to which they are slightly attached with thin twine. Under each of these cross pieces, is suspended an empty gourd, of a size adapted to the tone of note required, having a hole in the part where it comes in contact with the stick, and another at the bottom; the latter is covered with a thin piece of dried sheep’s gut. It is played on with two small sticks, by a man who sits cross legged on the ground, and is accompanied by one or more small drums.

I also observed here a sort of amusement, or rather inquisitorial exhibition, called by the natives Kongcorong. It was thus: a man, covered from head to foot with small boughs of trees, made his appearance in the afternoon near the town, and gave notice to the young women and girls that he would pay them a visit after sunset. At the appointed time he entered the village, preceded by drums, and repaired to the assembly place, where all were collected to meet him with the music and singing. He commenced by saying that he came to caution the ladies to be very circumspect in their conduct towards the whites, meaning the men of the Expedition, and related some circumstances, with which he said he was acquainted, little to their credit:—but, as it was his first time, he would neither mention names, nor inflict the usual punishment, namely, flogging. He, however, would take advantage of the first opportunity which they would be imprudent enough to afford him.