This attack was soon retaliated; for Daisy, who was now in distress for want of provisions, thought he was justified in supplying himself from the plunder of Kasson. He accordingly took with him eight hundred of his best men, and marching secretly through the woods, surprised, in the night, three large villages near Kooniakary, in which many of his traitorous subjects, who were in Sambo’s expedition, had taken up their residence; all these, and indeed all the able men that fell into Daisy’s hands, were immediately put to death.
After this expedition, Daisy began to indulge the hopes of peace; many of his discontented subjects had returned to their allegiance, and were repairing the towns which had been desolated by the war; the rainy season was approaching; and every thing wore a favourable appearance, when he was suddenly attacked from a different quarter.
The Jowers, Kakaroos, and some other Kaartans, who had deserted from him at the commencement of the war, and had shewn a decided preference to Mansong and his army during the whole campaign, were now afraid or ashamed to ask forgiveness of Daisy, and being very powerful in themselves, joined together to make war upon him. They solicited the Moors to assist them in their rebellion (as will appear hereafter) and having collected a considerable army, they plundered a large village belonging to Daisy, and carried off a number of prisoners.
Daisy immediately prepared to revenge this insult; but the Jowers, and indeed almost all the Negro inhabitants of Ludamar, deserted their towns and fled to the eastward; and the rainy season put an end to the war of Kaarta, which had enriched a few individuals, but destroyed the happiness of thousands.
Such was the state of affairs among the nations in the neighbourhood of Jarra, soon after the period of my arrival there. I shall now proceed, after giving some description of that place, with the detail of events as they occurred.
[10]There is but one god, and Mahomet is his Prophet.
CHAPTER IX.
Some Account of Jarra, and the Moorish Inhabitants. — The Author applies for, and obtains Permission from Ali, the Moorish Chief or Sovereign, of Ludamar, to pass through his Territories. — Departs from Jarra, and arrives at Deena — ill treated by the Moors. — Proceeds to Sampaka — finds a Negro who makes Gunpowder. — Continues his Journey to Samee, where he is seized by some Moors who are sent for that Purpose by Ali — is conveyed a Prisoner to the Moorish Camp at Benowm, on the Borders of the Great Desert.
The town of Jarra is of considerable extent: the houses are built of clay and stone intermixed; the clay answering the purpose of mortar. It is situated in the Moorish kingdom of Ludamar; but the major part of the inhabitants are Negroes, from the borders of the southern states, who prefer a precarious protection under the Moors, which they purchase by a tribute, rather than continue exposed to their predatory hostilities. The tribute they pay is considerable; and they manifest towards their Moorish superiors the most unlimited obedience and submission, and are treated by them with the utmost indignity and contempt. The Moors of this, and the other states adjoining the country of the Negroes, resemble in their persons the Mulattoes of the West Indies to so great a degree, as not easily to be distinguished from them; and in truth, the present generation seem to be a mixed race between the Moors (properly so called) of the North, and the Negroes of the South; possessing many of the worst qualities of both nations.