Life and Travels of Mungo Park

by Mungo Park

On the 15th, I reached Dosita, a large town, where I staid one day on account of the rain; but continued very sickly, and was slightly delirious in the night. On the 17th, I set out for Mansia, a considerable town, where small quantities of gold are collected. The road led over a high rocky hill, and my strength and spirits were so much exhausted, that before I could reach the top of the hill, I was forced to lie down three times, being very faint and sickly. I reached Mansia in the afternoon. The Mansa of this town had the character of being very inhospitable. He however sent me a little corn for supper, but demanded something in return; and when I assured him that I had nothing of value in my possession, he told me (as if in jest) that my white skin should not defend me if I told him lies. He then showed me the hut wherein I was to sleep; but took away my spear, saying that it should be returned to me in the morning. This trifling circumstance, when joined to the character I had heard of the man, made me rather suspicious of him; and I privately desired one of the inhabitants of the place, who had a bow and quiver, to sleep in the same hut with me. About midnight, I heard somebody approach the door, and observing the moonlight strike suddenly into the hut, I started up, and saw a man stepping cautiously over the threshold. I immediately snatched up the Negro's bow and quiver, the rattling of which made the man withdraw; and my companion looking out, assured me that it was the Mansa himself, and advised me to keep awake until the morning. I closed the door, and placed a large piece of wood behind it; and was wondering at this unexpected visit, when somebody pressed so hard against the door, that the Negro could scarcely keep it shut. But when I called to him to open the door, the intruder ran off, as before.

Sept. 16th. As soon as it was light, the Negro, at my request, went to the Mansa's house, and brought away my spear. He told me that the Mansa was asleep, and lest this inhospitable chief should devise means to detain me, he advised me to set out before he was awake; which I immediately did; and about two o'clock reached Kamalia, a small town situated at the bottom of some rocky hills, where the inhabitants collect gold in considerable quantities. The Bushreens here live apart from the Kafirs, and have built their huts in a scattered manner, at a short distance from the town. They have a place set apart for performing their devotions in, to which they give the name of missura, or mosque; but it is in fact nothing more than a square piece of ground made level, and surrounded with the trunks of trees, having a small projection towards the east, where the Marraboo, or priest, stands, when he calls the people to prayers. Mosques of this construction are very common among the converted Negroes; but having neither walls nor roof, they can only be used in fine weather. When it rains, the Bushreens perform their devotions in their huts.

On my arrival at Kamalia, I was conducted to the house of a Bushreen named Karfa Taura, the brother of him to whose hospitality I was indebted at Kinyeto. He was collecting a coffle of slaves, with a view to sell them to the Europeans on the Gambia, as soon as the rains should be over. I found him sitting in his baloon surrounded by several Slatees, who proposed to join the coffle. He was reading to them from an Arabic book; and inquired, with a smile, if I understood it? Being answered in the negative, he desired one of the Slatees to fetch the little curious book, which had been brought from the west country. On opening this small volume, I was surprised and delighted to find it our Book of Common Prayer; and Karfa expressed great joy to hear that I could read it; for some of the Slatees, who had seen the Europeans upon the Coast, observing the colour of my skin, (which was now become very yellow from sickness,) my long beard, ragged clothes, and extreme poverty, were unwilling to admit that I was a white man, and told Karfa that they suspected I was some Arab in disguise. Karfa, however, perceiving that I could read this book, had no doubt concerning me; and kindly promised me every assistance in his power. At the same time he informed me, that it was impossible to cross the Jallonka wilderness for many months yet to come, as no less than eight rapid rivers, he said, lay in the way. He added, that he intended to set out himself for Gambia as soon as the rivers were fordable, and the grass burnt; and advised me to stay and accompany him. He remarked, that when a caravan of the natives could not travel through the country, it was idle for a single white man to attempt it. I readily admitted that such an attempt was an act of rashness, but I assured him that I had now no alternative; for having no money to support myself, I must either beg my subsistence, by travelling from place to place, or perish for want. Karfa now looked at me with great earnestness, and inquired if I could eat the common victuals of the country, assuring me he had never before seen a white man. He added, that if I would remain with him until the rains were over, he would give me plenty of victuals in the meantime, and a hut to sleep in; and that after he had conducted me in safety to the Gambia, I might then make him what return I thought proper. I asked him if the value of one prime slave would satisfy him. He answered in the affirmative, and immediately ordered one of the huts to be swept for my accomodation. Thus was I delivered, by the friendly care of this benevolent Negro, from a situation truly deplorable. Distress and famine pressed hard upon me. I had, before me, the gloomy wilds of Jallonkadoo, where the traveller sees no habitation for five successive days. I had observed at a distance the rapid course of the river Kokoro. I had almost marked out the place where I was doomed, I thought, to perish, when this friendly Negro stretched out his hospitable hand for my relief.

In the hut which was appropriated for me, I was provided with a mat to sleep on, an earthen jar for holding water, and a small calabash to drink out of; and Karfa sent me from his own dwelling two meals a day; and ordered his slaves to supply me with firewood and water. But I found that neither the kindness of Karfa, nor any sort of accomodation, could put a stop to the fever which weakened me, and which became every day more alarming. I endeavoured as much as possible to conceal my distress; but on the third day after my arrival, as I was going with Karfa to visit some of his friends, I found myself so faint that I could scarcely walk, and before we reached the place, I staggered, and fell into a pit from which the clay had been taken to build one of the huts. Karfa endeavoured to console me with the hopes of a speedy recovery; assuring me, that if I would not walk out in the wet, I should soon be well. I determined to follow his advice and confine myself to my hut; but was still tormented with the fever, and my health continued to be in a very precarious state for five ensuing weeks. Sometimes I could crawl out of the hut, and sit a few hours in the open air; at other times I was unable to rise, and passed the lingering hours in a very gloomy and solitary manner. I was seldom visited by any person except my benevolent landlord, who came daily to inquire after my health. When the rains became less frequent and the country began to grow dry, the fever left me; but in so debilitated condition, that I could scarcely stand upright, and it was with great difficulty that I could carry my mat to the shade of a tamarind tree, at a short distance, to enjoy the refreshing smell of the corn-fields, and delight my eyes with a prospect of the country. I had the pleasure, at length, to find myself in a state of convalescence: towards which the benevolent and simple manners of the Negroes, and the perusal of Karfa's little volume, greatly contributed.

In the meantime, many of the slatees who resided at Kamalia, having spent all their money, and become in a great measure dependent upon Karfa's hospitality, beheld me with an eye of envy, and invented many ridiculous and trifling stories to lessen me in Karfa's esteem; and in the beginning of December, a Sera-Woolli slatee, with five slaves, arrived from Sego. This man, too, spread a number of malicious reports concerning me; but Karfa paid no attention to them, and continued to show me the same kindness as formerly. As I was one day conversing with the slaves which this slatee had brought, one of them begged me to give him some victuals. I told him I was a stranger, and had none to give. He replied, "I gave you victuals when you was hungry.—Have you forgot the man who brought you milk at Karrankalla? But (added he, with a sigh) the irons were not then upon my legs!" I immediately recollected him, and begged some ground nuts from Karfa to give him as a return for his former kindness. He told me that he had been taken by the Bambarrans, the day after the battle at Joka, and sent to Sego, where he had been purchased by his present master, who was carrying him down to Kajaaga. Three more of these slaves were from Kaarta, and one from Wassela, all of them prisoners of war. They stopped four days at Kamalia, and were then taken to Bala, where they remained until the river Kokoro was fordable, and the grass burnt.

In the beginning of December Karfa proposed to complete his purchase of slaves; and for this purpose, collected all the debts which were owing to him in his own country; and on the 19th, being accompanied by three slatees, he departed for Kancaba, a large town on the banks of the Niger, and a great slave-market. Most of the slaves, who are sold at Kancaba, come from Bambarra; for Mansong, to avoid the expense and danger of keeping all his prisoners at Sego, commonly sends them in small parties to be sold at the different trading towns; and as Kancaba is much resorted to by merchants, it is always well supplied with slaves, which are sent thither up the Niger in canoes. When Karfa departed from Kamalia, he proposed to return in the course of a month; and during his absence I was left to the care of a good old Bushreen, who acted as schoolmaster to the young people of Kamalia.

Being now left alone, and at leisure to indulge my own reflections, it was an opportunity not to be neglected of augmenting and extending the observations I had already made on the climate and productions of the country; and of acquiring a more perfect knowledge of the natives, than it was possible for me to obtain in the course of a transient and perilous journey through the country. I endeavoured likewise to collect all the information I could concerning those important branches of African commerce, the trade for gold, ivory, and slaves. Such was my employment during the remainder of my stay at Kamalia; and I shall now proceed to lay before my readers the result of my researches and inquiries; avoiding, as far as I can, a repetition of those circumstances and observations, which were related, as occasion arose, in the narrative of my journey.

CHAPTER XX.

Of the climate and seasons.—Winds.—Vegetable productions.—Population.—General observations on the character and disposition of the Mandingoes; and a summary account of their manners and habits of life; their marriages, &c.

The whole of my route, both in going and returning, having been confined to a tract of country bounded nearly by the 12th and 15th parallels of latitude, the reader must imagine that I found the climate in most places extremely hot; but nowhere did I feel the heat so intense and oppressive as in the Camp at Benowm, of which mention has been made in a former place. In some parts, where the country ascends into hills, the air is at all times comparatively cool; yet none of the districts which I traversed could properly be called mountainous. About the middle of June, the hot and sultry atmosphere is agitated by violent gusts of wind, (called tornadoes,) accompanied with thunder and rain. These usher in what is denominated the rainy season, which continues until the month of November. During this time, the diurnal rains are very heavy; and the prevailing winds are from the south-west. The termination of the rainy season is likewise attended with violent tornadoes; after which the wind shifts to the north-east, and continues to blow from that quarter during the rest of the year.