One day, when I was going home, I was accosted in the street by one of my new friends, the Mandingoes, who asked me if I had not taken a silver toothpick which he had lost; the rogue added, aside, “Do not make a noise; give me back my toothpick, and I will say nothing about it.” Imagine my surprise and indignation! I had no difficulty in understanding what the fellow meant; I reproached him for this shameful behaviour to a brother, without protection, in a foreign country; then, transported with anger, I followed him home and appealed to the merchants who were assembled there; but they all refused to interfere in the business. I then went to fetch a negro who spoke English and Mandingo, that we might the better understand one another. When my accuser saw the interpreter, he was alarmed, and said I had mistaken his meaning, and that he only came to inquire whether by chance I had found the article which he had lost, adding, that he should be miserable to have any dispute with me. I was satisfied with this explanation; but I left my former companions with looks of scorn, and told them that they had taken the wrong way to gain any thing from me. Recollecting very soon that I might meet some of these Mandingoes on my journey, I thought it best to appear to forget the offence, and I made a few presents to their chief, after which we were as good friends again as ever.
This little incident served as a lesson to me. I found that I must use greater caution, and that above all I must pretend to be very poor, that I might not excite rapacity.
Notwithstanding my reconciliation with the Mandingo merchants, I did not think it prudent to set out with them, and I sought a better opportunity of travelling through the Fouta-Dhialon. I thought that I had found one when I made acquaintance with a Mandingo, a very devout man, according to his own account, who was honoured with the title of sherif. I did not hesitate to ask leave to accompany him to Tembo, the capital of Fouta-Dhialon: he consented very readily, and, when I offered him a reward he replied, with downcast eyes, that whatever he did would be for the love of God and the prophet, and that there was only one thing which he should beg of me, and that was to obtain a passport from the governor of Sierra-Leone. In spite of my entreaties and all I could do, the governor had given me no answer on the day before that which we had fixed for our departure. I went to inform Ibrahim (for that was my guide’s name) of this unlucky circumstance, and he did not chuse to wait any longer for me. He hastened his journey, and took with him an Arabian dress that I had had made and left with him the evening before. As soon as I recollected this, I ran after the devout sherif and asked for my bundle: he pretended to be greatly surprised at first, and then, rubbing his forehead, exclaimed, with the air of a man who is vexed: “O, good God! those rogues of slaves have gone on before, and taken your clothes along with them; but be not uneasy, I will send them back to you.” The safest way would have been to have detained the thief by way of hostage; but it was dangerous for me to make enemies, and I allowed him to continue his journey, reflecting sorrowfully, as I returned home, upon the knavish disposition of my new African friends.
Since I had been at Freetown I had resumed the French costume. Perhaps, said I, these Moors have found out my imposture; I give myself out for an Arabian and a Musulman, without forsaking my European dress and habits; I cannot act my part completely unless I renounce them. I could not well effect this change at Sierra-Leone; for the white inhabitants, who were all acquainted with my person, would not have been more indulgent to me than those of St. Louis. I thought therefore of leaving Freetown, and proposed to go to a place where I might land in my Arabian dress without inconvenience. I fixed upon Kakondy, a village situated on the Rio Nuñez, fifty leagues to the north of Sierra-Leone, where I knew that there was no European establishment.
Before I set out for Kakondy, I converted my two thousand francs partly into specie and partly into merchandise. This was my whole fortune, but I meant to devote it all to the accomplishment of my project. I expended seventeen hundred francs in the purchase of gunpowder, paper, sundry glass wares, tobacco, amber, coral, silk handkerchiefs, knives, scissors, looking-glasses, cloves, three pieces of Guinea stuff, and an umbrella. All these goods formed a bundle of no great bulk; they did not weigh one hundred pounds, for I had bought but a small quantity of each article; the price of European goods being then high in all the colonies. I put into my girdle the rest of my two thousand francs, half in silver and half in gold. Thanks to the kindness of my friends at Sierra-Leone, I had no need to buy medicines; they furnished me with cream of tartar, jalap, calomel, and different kinds of salts, sulphate of quinine, diachylon plaister, and nitrate of silver.
Provided with all these useful things, and with two pocket compasses to direct me, and dressed in my Arabian costume, with my pockets filled with leaves torn out of the Koran, I embarked at Sierra-Leone on the 22nd of March, 1827, for Rio Nuñez, on board the schooner Thomas. The wind being foul we did not arrive at the mouth of the Rio Nuñez till the thirty-first of the month. I had here the good fortune to meet with a Frenchman of the name of Castagnet, who, though not acquainted with me, took me home with him, and promised that he would do all he could to forward my undertaking. He was then going to Rio Pongo, and as he was to be absent a fortnight, he begged me to defer my journey till he came back. I was glad to accede to this obliging request, for I was told that M. Castagnet owned one of the principal factories at Kakondy, where caravans from the interior were arriving daily, and particularly from Kankan, a part of the country which I was particularly anxious to visit. I must confess that this meeting with M. Castagnet was a most fortunate circumstance for me, and that the generous hospitality which I enjoyed in his house during my stay at Kakondy merits my everlasting gratitude.
On the 5th of April, I was conducted to Rebeca by Mr. Bethman, an English merchant, the proprietor of an establishment near M. Castagnet’s residence, and who had the kindness to introduce me to the presumptive heir of the Landamas, whose name is Macandé. The king had been dead for some months, and they were waiting for the rainy season to chuse a successor.
Mr. Tudsberry, who possesses a noble factory at the foot of the mountain, was so good as to accompany us to see the prince, who received us without ceremony in the corridor belonging to his house. This corridor is supported by pillars, and goes all round the premises.
The prince was informed in the Landamas language of the object of my journey, and my wish to visit the almamy of Fouta-Dhialon. The prince of the Landamas is not a Musulman; he drinks spirits, and so do his subjects. My visit did not appear to interest him much; he told me jokingly that he thought I was a christian; but they assured him of the contrary, and added, that I was a real Arab. He did not speak to me, but he could not take his eyes off my Arabian costume, which seemed to surprise him.
The news of my arrival, soon spread in the neighbourhood, and some of the inhabitants, attracted by curiosity, came to visit me. They all shook hands with me in token of peace. Amongst the crowd was a Mandingo, who had been settled for some time in that country; he had travelled amongst the Moors of the Senegal, and acquired some knowledge of the language, in which he asked me several questions. I answered them, and begged him to tell the prince that I had been taken prisoner by the christians when very young; that I had been long away from my native land; and that, being now free, I was returning to my relations. This Mandingo interpreted my words very faithfully, and told the prince and his ministers that they were very fortunate, and ought to thank God for having sent to them an Arab from the prophet’s own country, to open to them the gates of heaven; and lastly, that they had that day seen what their ancestors had never beheld. After this short conversation we took leave of the prince and returned to Mr. Tudsberry’s.