Polygamy is carried to a frightful extent in Kaarta. Many private individuals have ten wives, and as many concubines; the princes, for the most part, not less than thirty of each, and Modiba himself is said to have one hundred wives and two hundred concubines; and I verily believe that one-third of the free inhabitants of Kaarta are of the blood royal.
We left Missira at six on the morning of the 22d, and reached Moonia at ten, but had scarcely unloaded the asses, when Bojar sent to inform me that his father insisted on my paying the customary duty on the merchandize I had brought into the country, in the same proportion as paid by the native merchants, and desired to have my immediate answer, which I gave, by saying, that I now plainly perceived what their object was in bringing me back to Moonia; and that as I would not willingly give any thing more to them, in the way of either customs or presents, and was not able to prevent them from taking what they wished, they might do so when they pleased. In about half an hour they came to our huts, and having examined all our baggage minutely, appeared much disappointed and surprised in not finding a large quantity of silver, amber, and coral, and a great number of fine guns, all which they said Modiba had been told I had in abundance. Their disappointment was so great that they walked off to the town without taking a single article. The maraboo was much confused, and said, he could not help acknowledging that I had been badly treated, but that I should not blame Modiba, as he had been misinformed, both with respect to the object of my visit to Sego, and the extent and nature of my baggage: the latter, although reduced to that state which surprised Modiba’s messengers so much, was still of value enough in their eyes to induce their return at eight o’clock P.M.; when they again demanded the customs, and on my refusing to give them with free will, they helped themselves to the articles stated in the Appendix, [Article 19.]
On the following morning I despatched Giboodoo to inform Modiba of the proceedings of his messengers, and to request that, if it was really his intention to send people to escort us to Galam, he would do so immediately.
From the 23d of May until the 8th of June was spent by us in a state of suspense, which nothing but the hope we hourly entertained of seeing Giboodoo return from Dhyage, and with him the promised escort, could have rendered at all supportable. Every day was marked by some act of plunder by the slaves of Bojar, and haughty insult by himself, but we were incapable of resistance, and, however galling to our feelings, patient submission was our only line of conduct, to which we more strictly adhered in consequence of an intimation from Giboodoo, that any other would have drawn down upon us the most hostile treatment.
He arrived from Dhyage on the 8th, at night, without any escort, but obtained permission for us to proceed to Galam, where we arrived on the 18th. We were accompanied by some Serrawoollie merchants, conducting to Baquelle a large coffle of slaves, each of whom had to deplore being torn from some near and dear object of their affections, and from their nakedness, want of proper nourishment, and being exposed to almost constant rain for two days and nights, they presented a group of beings reduced to the very lowest ebb of human suffering.
I lost no time in repairing to Baquelle for the purpose of effecting my speedy return from that place over land to the Gambia, but found that such a step was rendered totally impossible by the state of war and confusion in which all the surrounding countries were then involved, both among themselves, and with the French at all their settlements on the Senegal. They had a few days previous to my leaving Kaarta totally destroyed the town of Baquelle in revenge for the assassination of one of their officers, and were concerting measures in conjunction with Bondoo for an attack on Tuabo[33]. I was therefore necessitated to wait for the arrival of the fleet from Saint Louis, the return of which would afford me the most expeditious and safe means of reaching the coast. This however did not take place before the 24th of September, when, having been accommodated with a passage for my men and self on board one of the French steam ships, we left Baquelle and descended the river which was then very much swollen. We arrived at St. Louis on the 8th of October, and were hospitably received by the French Governor, Captain Le Coupe, who politely offered me every assistance I might require.
Here I waited a fortnight, in hopes of meeting a vessel going to the Gambia or Sierra Leone, but none offering, I proceeded by land to Goree, where I arrived on the 3d of November, and met with a vessel ready to sail for the Bathurst Gambia. The rapid improvement that had taken place since I left it in 1818, struck me with pleasing astonishment, and as a description of the island may not be uninteresting to some, I will endeavour to give it as correctly as the time I spent there enables me to do; but I am aware that it possesses many advantages beyond those which came under my observation. See [Article First], Appendix.
I returned to Sierra Leone on board his Majesty’s ship Pheasant, Captain Kelly, whose politeness and attention to myself and men I shall never forget.
His Excellency Sir Charles M‘Carthy, who had just arrived from England, was then about visiting some of the liberated negro establishments in the country towns, accompanied by all the civil and military staff of the colony. I felt too much concern in the welfare of those truly interesting objects not to make one of the party, and therefore had an opportunity of witnessing the wonderful improvements that had taken place in every town since I had before seen them, indeed some having all the appearance and regularity of the neatest village in England, with church, school, and commodious residences for the missionaries and teachers, had not in 1817 been more than thought of. Descending some of the hills, I was surprised on perceiving neat and well laid out villages in places where, but four years before, nothing was to be seen except almost impenetrable thickets, but arriving in those villages the beauty and interesting nature of such objects was much enhanced by the clean, orderly, and respectable appearance of the cottages and their inhabitants, particularly the young people and children, who, at all the towns, assembled to welcome with repeated cheers the return of their Governor and daddy (father), as they invariably stiled His Excellency, who expressed himself highly pleased at their improvement during his absence, in which short period large pieces of ground had been cleared and cultivated in the vicinity of all the towns, and every production of the climate raised in sufficient abundance to supply the inhabitants, and furnish the market at Free-town.
His Excellency visited the schools at the different towns, and witnessed the improvement which all the students had made, but particularly those of the high-school at Regent-town, whose progress in arithmetic, geography, and history, evinced a capacity far superior to that which is in general attributed to the Negro, and proves that they may be rendered useful members of society, particularly so in exploring the interior of the country, having previously received the education calculated to that peculiar service.