CHAPTER V.
Departure from Kussaye — Pass through the Simbani Woods — Loss of Camels — Ruins of Muntobe — Leave Muntobe — Arrive at Sansanding — Halt there — Our Woolli guides leave us — Discharge of Corporal Harrop — Arrival at Sabee, the first Town of Bondoo — Loss of Animals — Opposition on the part of our Guides to our moving thence — Arrival at Loonchea — Death of the Camels — Supply of provisions from Almamy — Mr. Dochard sent in advance with a present to Almamy — Departure from Loonchea — Arrival at Dachadoonga — Difficulty and delay in carrying forward the Baggage — Description of the Red Water, and its use — Arrival at Goodeerri — Mr. Dochard returns from the Capital — Arrival of Almamy’s eldest Son — Transactions with Almamy and difficulty in arranging matters with him — Departure from Goodeerri, and arrival at Boolibany, the Capital of Bondoo.
Having put the baggage in order, and fed the animals well on pistacio tops and corn, since our arrival here, we moved forward at six o’clock on the morning of the 9th, at a slow rate to the ENE., over a much wooded country, until noon, when we halted at the ruins of a town called Bantanto, in the Simbani woods, where the well, though very deep, thirteen fathoms, was still in repair, and supplied us with great plenty of water, but of a bad taste and smell, occasioned by its not being much used. Mr. Nelson, Corporal Pickard, and Privates Nicholson and Richmond had attacks of fever since the evening of the 7th; with these exceptions, the party continued to enjoy good health. We could not say as much for our animals: three horses died since our arrival at Metafodia Cunda, and more than one half of the remaining ones were unable to carry their loads, for the transport of which it was found impossible to procure a sufficient number of carriers from among the natives: some of our own African soldiers, however, very cheerfully supplied their places, and we managed, in one way or other, to take all forward, but not without considerable trouble and fatigue. The many men we were obliged to employ as carriers, left the animals without a sufficient number to guide them and keep their loads from falling off, an occurrence which took place at every twenty yards with some one or other of them. The asses we had procured on the path were very good, but whether we did not understand the proper way of loading them, or that our bales, from being nearly round, were ill calculated to sit steady on their round backs, we could not determine; it appeared, however, something was wrong, the consequence of which was much trouble and delay.
We moved from Bantanto at six o’clock on the morning of the 10th, but one of our camels having been either stolen, or strayed from the place where they had been feeding, I remained behind with that division until four, P.M., up to which time a fruitless search had been made for it in all directions. I then went forward alone, leaving Mr. Partarrieau to wait until the following morning, in hopes of recovering it, as it was a loss we could but badly afford at that moment.
I joined the front at the ruins of Montobe, at nine o’clock. The situation of this town, which must have been a very large one, is beautiful: it was in two parts, that where we halted being the smallest, and built on a hill shaded with fine large trees, the other is in the centre of an extensive plain, bearing the marks of cultivation, surrounded on all sides, at the distance of nearly a quarter of a mile, by woods; both are plentifully supplied with water, from wells only three or four feet deep, but which, in consequence of being neglected, had fallen in so much that we were obliged to clear them out before a sufficient quantity of water could be obtained. The soil appeared to be better than any I had before seen; it was composed of dark-brown mould, intermixed with white sand and sand-stone. The walls and many of the houses were both strongly and well built with yellow clay, raised from about four feet below the surface, and intermixed with cut straw or withered grass and cow-dung.
It was destroyed about twelve months before by the people of Bondoo, in one of their plundering excursions, and many of its inhabitants were either killed or made prisoners (slaves), a fate but too common in this country, where the strongest party always finds an excuse for making war on the weaker, not unfrequently carrying off whole towns of miserable inoffensive beings, without either any previous intimation of their hostile intentions, or indeed any cause given by those wretched objects of their avaricious encroachments. On all such occasions, the only object in view is the attainment of money, as they call it, and in this they succeed by selling their unfortunate fellow-creatures, and, what is still more unnatural, their compatriots, to slave-dealers.
A multitude of ideas, bringing with them the conviction of how much Englishmen, and indeed all civilized nations, are favoured by Divine Providence, in enjoying freedom and security against such unwarranted and barbarous practices, rushed on my mind, as we surveyed the silent and awful remains of some human bodies which lay outside the walls of this once respectable and no doubt happy town, the inhabitants of which were torn by unrelenting savages from that native spot, so dear to all mankind. Even the strongest ties of nature riven asunder, and all this to gratify the brutal desires of some neighbouring tyrant, or to enrich a set of savages, who are daily exposed to a similar fate themselves, at least as long as they can find people ready to purchase their unnatural booty.
Mr. Partarrieau not having come up, we left Muntobe at six o’clock on the morning of the 11th, and travelled slowly to the east until noon, when we reached Sansanding, a small town, the last of the kingdom of Woolli, beautifully situated on an eminence surrounded by high grounds, through the valleys of which winds a branch of the Gambia, now nearly dry; its banks are covered with cane, acacias, and mimosas, which afforded us an agreeable shelter from the intense heat of the sun. Here we decided on halting one day, in order to rest the animals, particularly the camels, which were become very weak for the last two days, owing to an insufficiency, indeed a scarcity, of that species of food on which they are used to feed. One gave up on the path, and died in a few hours, which the moors said resulted from having eaten some poisonous weed in which that country abounds. The men also wanted the opportunity of washing their linen, which this place afforded. We eagerly took advantage of it as a great distance of uninhabited country (which from a want of water it was necessary to get over as quick as possible) lay between us and the frontier town of Bondoo. Private Pickard, too, was so ill as to be unable to ride, and was left on the path, under the shade of a tree, until the afternoon, when we sent eight men with a hammock to bring him up. He had, however, before they reached him, recovered sufficiently to come forward on Mr. Partarrieau’s horse. The camel lost at Bantanto was stolen by one of the king of Woolli’s people, and was traced as far back as Kussaye by our men who went in search of it: the thief, however, effected his escape with his prize, leaving Mr. Partarrieau with only one camel to bring up the two loads. The asses, although heavily loaded, travelled well, and were, if properly managed, better adapted to this service than either horses or camels.
Our guide refused to accompany us beyond this town, giving, as a reason, his fear of being detained in Bondoo, should he enter that country. I was sorry for it, as the fellow really was very accommodating and attentive; but no entreaties could induce him to go on. I believe he was afraid that if we got him into one of the towns in Bondoo, he would be detained until our camel should be returned. In this he was deceived; for although such a step had been talked of by the officers as likely to have a good effect, we never had the least intention of doing so. I therefore dismissed him with a present of twenty-two bars.
We here discharged Corporal Harrop, a native of Woolli, who had been sold as a slave, when very young, and liberated by some of the British cruizers on the coast. He met his mother at Medina, and expressed a wish to remain there, a refusal to comply with which we were aware would be useless, as he had it in his power to desert, and thereby deprive us of the opportunity, which was thus offered, of acting in a manner likely to convince the people of that part of the interior, that our intentions towards them were liberal and humane. The man himself seemed very thankful, and said he would never forget the English, to whose settlements on the Gambia he would return, in order to lay out the money we had then given him as pay and allowance up to that date. He took a cordial farewel of all his companions, and returned to Medina with the guide, to glad the heart of an aged mother, who no doubt looked on her son as one risen from the dead.