Life and Travels of Mungo Park

by Mungo Park

[30] The Kroomen inhabit the country which extends along the coast, from Simon River to Capes Palmas and Lahoo; they voluntarily engage themselves in bands to aid the crews of vessels.

Having safely moored the brig, they proceeded to unload the merchandize on board of her, and to transfer it to the steam-vessels. They then began to sail up the Nun branch of the Niger. This part of the river is most unhealthy; it is one entire swamp, covered with mangrove, cabbage, and palm trees. "The fen-damp rose in the morning cold and clammy to the feeling, and appeared like the smoke of a damp wood fire." The bodies of the natives are covered with ulcers and cutaneous eruptions; they spend a short and miserable life in profligacy. After they had gone up about thirty miles, the banks had an appearance of greater consistency, and the beautiful, but deadly mangrove tree was no longer visible. The river was now about 300 yards broad, and from four to five fathoms deep. They met with no obstruction from the natives, till they came to Eboe, where an unfortunate quarrel took place, which seems to have arisen from a mere misunderstanding. The discharge of a gun had been agreed upon as the signal from the Alburkah for the Quorra to anchor; which being fired after dark, before the village, alarmed the natives, who opened a brisk discharge of musketry from the banks. The voyagers found it necessary to put a stop to this attack, by the discharge of their great guns, and in about twenty minutes the musketry from the shore was silenced. At day-break they made farther reprisals, and in order to terrify the natives, landed and set fire to the village—an act of barbarity which appears to have been entirely gratuitous and uncalled for. After they had passed the scene of this unfortunate rencontre, the river increased in breadth to one thousand yards; the banks were higher, and the woods were more frequently diversified with plantations of bananas, plantains and yams. Soon after they anchored off Eggaboo, to take in a supply of wood; it was the first town which they had observed built at a short distance from the river, and not upon its margin. It contained about two hundred houses, each of which was surrounded with a bamboo fence about nine feet high. They gratified King Obie by a visit, who gave them various presents, and also visited the steamers in state, escorted by upwards of sixty canoes, seven of which were of great size, and were each manned by crews of seventy men. Palm oil is produced in large quantities at Eboe; but the people are chiefly occupied in slave-hunting. As may be expected, their disposition is cruel and revengeful,—they live in the daily practice of the most flagrant vice and immorality.

On the night of the 9th November, they departed from Eboe, and were guided through the intricate and dangerous navigation by the light of a brilliant moon. After two days they anchored about 15 miles from the town. The river was here at least 3000 yards broad; and afterwards when it had thrown off its two great branches, the Benin and the Bonny, was about 1500 yards wide, divided by sandy islands overgrown with grass. One of the vessels grounded, but after half-an-hour's hard labour was got off. In the course of the same evening they were surrounded by canoes, which brought goats, yams, plantains, and bananas for sale.

The effect of the climate and of their stay near the swamps now became fatally manifest. In the Quorra, fourteen men died, and three in the Alburkah. The disproportion of mortality in the two vessels, at this period, is ascribed to the superior coolness of the Alburkah, which was rendered more healthy in consequence of her iron hull diffusing through her interior the coolness of the surrounding water.

They next anchored off Attah, a picturesque town, situated on the top of a hill which rises nearly 300 feet above the river. The view from the town is said to be grand and extensive. Here Mr. Laird saw an alligator captured by two natives, in an ingenious and daring manner. "He was discovered basking on a bank in the river, a short distance ahead of the vessels. Two natives in a canoe immediately paddled to the opposite side of the bank, and having landed, crept cautiously towards him. As soon as they were near the animal, one of the natives stood up from his crouching position, holding a spear about six feet long, which with one blow he struck through the animal's tail into the sand. A most strenuous contest immediately ensued; the man with the spear holding it in the sand as firmly as his strength allowed him, and clinging to it as it became necessary to shift his position with the agility of a monkey; while his companion occasionally ran in as opportunity offered, and with much dexterity gave the animal a thrust with his long knife, retreating at the same moment from, without the reach of its capacious jaws, as it whirled round upon the extraordinary pivot which his companion had so successfully placed in its tail. The battle lasted about half an hour, terminating in the slaughter of the alligator, and the triumph of his conquerors, who were not long in cutting him into pieces and loading their canoes with his flesh, which they immediately carried to the shore and retailed to their countrymen. The success of the plan depended entirely on the nerve and dexterity of the man who pinned the animal's tail to the ground; and his contortions and struggles to keep his position were highly entertaining."

They were now within the district of the Kong Mountains, which are of a tabular form, and rise on both sides to between 2000 or 2500 feet. The change of prospect was most grateful to those who had spent two months in a flat, marshy, and uninteresting country. These mountains lie in the direction of W.N.W. and E.S.E., where they are intersected by the Niger. Their outlines are extremely bold, and they appear to be chiefly composed of granite. The navigation of the channel between them is full of danger, as large fragments of granite have fallen into the stream, and produced eddies and shoals. At a little distance beyond this point, a noble prospect opened before the Voyagers. "An immense river, about three thousand yards wide, extending as far as the eye could reach, lay before us, flowing majestically between its banks, which rose gradually to a considerable height, and were studded with clumps of trees and brushwood, giving them the appearance of a gentleman's park; while the smoke rising from different towns on its banks, and the number of canoes floating on its bosom, gave it an aspect of security and peace." Here the vessel ran aground with a violent shock, and they experienced the greatest difficulty in relieving her.

A great misfortune happened to the expedition a little above Attah. The Quorra again ran aground, near the confluence of the Tshadda with the Niger, and all their efforts to extricate her proved vain; she was stopped for four months, after which the rising of the water lifted her up.

Mr. Laird, accompanied by Dr. Briggs, visited Addakudda, which was the largest town in sight from the vessel on the western bank of the river; it is situated on an eminence of granite, which gives it the appearance of a fortified place. It contains about 5000 inhabitants, but like most African towns, is dirty and ill-constructed. Here they saw the method used by the natives for dying cloth with indigo, which is extremely rude and inartificial; and the effect seems to be produced solely by the superior quality of the indigo, and the quantity employed. Little ivory is exposed for sale in the market, cloth, and provisions forming the chief articles of traffic.

As any farther progress was for a time entirely prevented, Mr. Laird resolved to travel towards Fundah, in order to ascertain whether any opening for commerce could be found there. After journeying about forty miles, by land and water, he arrived in a state of great debility, and experienced a most inhospitable reception from the king, who pilfered from him as much as he could, and detained him in his own residence for some time, threatening to put him to death if he attempted to escape. He was only allowed to depart in consequence of several devices, which operated powerfully upon the superstitious fears of the king and his subjects.

The town of Fundah, which is very extensive, is situated on the western extremity of an immense plain, about nine miles distant from the northern bank of the river Shary. To the eastward the country is rich and beautiful. The town is built in the form of a crescent, and is surrounded by a ditch, and a wall about twelve feet high. A considerable space intervenes between the houses and the walls. The streets are narrow and dirty, with the exception of one a mile in length, and about two hundred feet wide; where the market is held every Friday. "The houses are all circular with conical huts built of clay, with the exception of the chief Mallam's, which has a gable end to it. The verandahs in the front give them a cool and pleasant appearance." The king's residence would appear to be the citadel, as it is surrounded by a wall pierced with many loopholes. Mr. Laird estimates the population at 15,000, who are chiefly employed in extensive dye-works, and in the manufacture of iron and copper utensils.