When a freeman has become a slave by any one of the causes before mentioned, he generally continues so for life, and his children (if they are born of an enslaved mother) are brought up in the same state of servitude. There are, however, a few instances of slaves obtaining their freedom, and sometimes even with the consent of their masters; as by performing some singular piece of service, or by going to battle, and bringing home two slaves as a ransom; but the common way of regaining freedom is by escape; and when slaves have once set their minds on running away, they often succeed. Some of them will wait for years before an opportunity presents itself, and during that period show no signs of discontent. In general, it may be remarked, that slaves who come from a hilly country, and have been much accustomed to hunting and travel, are more apt to attempt their escape than such as are born in a flat country, and have been employed in cultivating the land.
Such are the general outlines of that system of slavery which prevails in Africa; and it is evident, from its nature and extent, that it is a system of no modern date. It probably had its origin in the remote ages of antiquity, before the Mahomedans explored a path across the Desert. How far it is maintained and supported by the slave traffic, which for two hundred years the nations of Europe have carried on with the natives of the Coast, it is neither within my province nor in my power to explain. If my sentiments should be required concerning the effect which a discontinuance of that commerce would produce on the manners of the natives, I should have no hesitation in observing, that in the present unenlightened state of their minds, my opinion is, the effect would neither be so extensive or beneficial, as many wise and worthy persons fondly expect.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Of gold-dust, and the manner in which it is collected.—Process of washing it.—Its value in Africa,—Of ivory.—Surprise of the Negroes at the eagerness of the Europeans for this commodity.—Scattered teeth frequently picked up in the woods.—Mode of hunting the elephant.—Some reflections on the unimproved state of the country, &c.
Those valuable commodities, gold and ivory, (the next objects of our inquiry,) have probably been found in Africa from the first ages of the world. They are reckoned among its most important productions in the earliest records of its history.
It has been observed, that gold is seldom or never discovered, except in mountainous and barren countries. Nature, it is said, thus making amends in one way, for her penuriousness in the other. This, however, is not wholly true. Gold is found in considerable quantities throughout every part of Manding; a country which is indeed hilly, but cannot properly be called mountainous, much less barren. It is also found in great plenty in Jallonkadoo, (particularly about Boori,) another hilly, but by no means an infertile country. It is remarkable, that in the place last mentioned, (Boori,) which is situated about four days' journey to the south-west of Kamalia, the salt market is often supplied, at the same time, with rock-salt from the Great Desert, and sea-salt from the Rio Grande; the price of each, at this distance from its source, being nearly the same; and the dealers in each, whether Moors from the north, or Negroes from the west, are invited thither by the same motives, that of bartering their salt for gold.
The gold of Manding, so far as I could learn, is never found in any matrix or vein, but always in small grains, nearly in a pure state, from the size of a pin's head to that of a pea; scattered through a large body of sand or clay; and in this state it is called by the Mandingoes sanoo munko, "gold powder," It is, however, extremely probable, by what I could learn of the situation of the ground, that most of it has originally been washed down by repeated torrents from the neighbouring hills. The manner in which it is collected is nearly as follows:—
About the beginning of December, when the harvest is over, and the streams and torrents have greatly subsided, the Mansa, or chief man of the town, appoints a day to begin sanoo koo, "gold washing;" and the women are sure to have themselves in readiness by the time appointed. A hoe, or spade, for digging up the sand, two or three calabashes for washing it in, and a few quills for containing the gold dust, are all the implements necessary for the purpose. On the morning of their departure, a bullock is killed for the first day's entertainment, and a number of prayers and charms are used to ensure success; for a failure on that day is thought a bad omen. The Manga of Kamalia, with fourteen of his people, were, I remember, so much disappointed in their first day's washing, that a very few of them had resolution to persevere; and the few that did had but very indifferent success: which indeed is not much to be wondered at, for, instead of opening some untried place, they continue to dig and wash in the same spot where they had dug and washed for years; and where, of course, but few large grains could be left.
The washing the sands of the streams is by far the easiest way of obtaining the gold-dust; but in most places the sands have been so narrowly searched before, that unless the stream takes some new course, the gold is found but in small quantities. While some of the party are busied in washing the sands, others employ themselves farther up the torrent, where the rapidity of the stream has carried away all the clay, sand, &c. and left nothing but small pebbles. The search among these is a very troublesome task. I have seen women who have had the skin worn off the tops of their fingers in this employment. Sometimes, however, they are rewarded by finding pieces of gold, which they call sanoo birro, "gold-stones," that amply repay them for their trouble. A woman and her daughter, inhabitants of Kamalia, found in one day two pieces of this kind; one of five drachms, and the other of three drachms, weight. But the most certain and profitable way of washing is practised in the height of the dry season, by digging a deep pit, like a draw-well, near some hill which has previously been discovered to contain gold. The pit is dug with small spades or corn hoes, and the earth is drawn up in large calabashes. As the Negroes dig through the different strata of clay or sand, a calabash or two of each is washed, by way of experiment; and in this manner the labourers proceed, until they come to a stratum containing gold; or until they are obstructed by rocks, or inundated by water. In general, when they come to a stratum of fine reddish sand, with small black specks therein, they find gold in some proportion or other, and send up large calabashes full of the sand, for the women to wash; for though the pit is dug by the men, the gold is always washed by the women, who are accustomed from their infancy to a similar operation, in separating the husks of corn from the meal.
As I never descended into any of these pits, I cannot say in what manner they are worked under ground. Indeed, the situation in which I was placed made it necessary for me to be cautious not to incur the suspicion of the natives, by examining too far into the riches of their country; but the manner of separating the gold from the sand is very simple, and is frequently performed by the women in the middle of the town; for when the searchers return from the valleys in the evening, they commonly bring with them each a calabash or two of sand, to be washed by such of the females as remain at home. The operation is simply as follows:—