On the 18th of July, we took leave of our hosts at six in the morning, and directed our course E.S.E. for about a mile. We crossed the Lin in a canoe, so ill-contrived, that we thought it would have upset; it was made of a crooked trunk of a tree, and was very narrow and leaky; every time we stirred, it inclined so much that the water came in over the gunwale. The Lin is a large stream from the south; its current is rapid, and it falls into the Dhioliba. We travelled another mile in the same direction, over a well-cultivated plain, and I saw many labourers all around, who were hoeing the ground, and seemed to break it up as thoroughly as our French vine-dressers; they were not like the negro slaves of the Mandingoes, who just scratch up the surface of the soil two or three inches deep, to clear it of weeds: these men laboured in good earnest for a rich and plentiful crop. They are well rewarded, for their rice, and every thing else they cultivate, grows quicker and produces more abundantly than in Kankan. I have seen them harvesting the foigné; it is cut with a sickle, and, in many parts, they leave it on the ground exposed to the rain; they commonly drive two rows of stakes into the ground, and arrange the crop very skilfully between them, so that it has the appearance of a palisade; straw is laid on the top to keep off the rain, and they fetch the foigné from this store as they want it: nobody ever thinks of plundering a magazine of this kind.
I have seen the negroes tilling the field from which a crop had just been gathered in, to sow it afresh with another grain. The women were occupied in clearing away the grass, and in weeding the beautiful fields of rice with which the country is covered. The people are industrious; they do not travel, but devote themselves to the labours of the field, and I was astonished to find agriculture in such a state of advancement in the interior of Africa: their land is as carefully cultivated as ours, whether under the plough or not, according as the position of the soil permits inundation. We arrived at the little hamlet where my guide had rested; he gave me a very kind reception, and said that he had been unhappy at my delay, and that he expected me sooner; he had given his friend notice of my coming and of the circumstances that occasioned my passage through their country. These good negroes came to see me every day; they sat by me and looked at me with curiosity; they were all very dirty and covered with rags, but there was great sweetness in their countenances. They were not annoying like the Mandingoes, but contented themselves with staring at me, and saying to one another: “He is a white! what a good-looking man he is!” One of them, the head of a family, made me a present of a sheep, and in the course of the day, of a large calabash of new milk, in which he had put some dégué, and which I thought delicious. I offered to share it with my companions, who would not taste it, till I had finished my meal; I did not expect so much delicacy from the Mandingoes, for my guide was one.
I walked about in the neighbourhood of our habitation, and was delighted with the good cultivation; the natives raise little mounds of earth, in which they plant their pistachios and yams; and these mounds are arranged with some taste, all of the same height and in rows. Rice and millet are sown in trenches; as soon as the rainy season commences they put in their seed around their habitations, and when the maize is in flower they plant cotton between the rows. The maize is ripe very early and they then pull it up to make room for the other crop. If they do not plant cotton, they turn up the ground after the maize is got in, and transplant the millet into it; a practice which I never remarked in Kankan. I was surprised to see these good people so laborious and careful; on every side, in the country, I saw men and women weeding the fields. They grow two crops a year on the same land; I have seen rice in ear, and other rice by its side scarcely above the ground. The country is for the most part very open; the only trees which are preserved by the husbandmen are the cé and the nédé; these are very common and very useful to the inhabitants. I never saw, as I have done in Fouta and Baléya, trees cut off four or five feet from the ground; the Foulahs of Wassoulo are careful to take up the roots, and leave nothing in their fields that can be injurious. In short, as I said before, they are as careful in their husbandry as our own farmers. I had many visiters all day long; the weather was stormy, and in the evening there was much lightning in the south, and a high wind from the S.W.; rain fell in torrents during part of the night, and the thunder was tremendously loud. In the evening my companions fell to work to kill the sheep which had been given to me, and we had a pretty good supper. Many of the Foulahs took leave of us to go to the market at Morila.
On the 19th of July, at nine in the morning, we left Kimba; our host’s son served us as a guide. We travelled a mile to the south, and crossed a wide river, which was running from west to east, at the rate of two knots and a half an hour; in this place it was eight or nine feet deep; its banks which are rather high and barren, are composed of grey argillaceous earth, and in some parts of red earth mixed with small gravel. I inquired the name of this river, and nobody could inform me what it was; at last an old woman told me that it was the Sarano, and that is the same which passes by Kankary. We crossed in a very long and very narrow canoe, which leaked as if it had been a basket; I was not particularly well pleased to find myself in the middle of the river in this frail bark, from which we were continually baling out the water with a calabash: my guide Arafanba stood up in the boat and sang prayers out of the Koran with a loud voice; he was no doubt praying that God would grant us a safe passage. About eleven o’clock we reached the right bank, without any other damage than getting some of our things wet. We continued our route to the south, over a grey sand full of gravel. The surrounding country, which is very well cultivated, is inundated and covered with nédés and cés; we saw the rice in flag with its head just above the water. After proceeding for four miles in this direction, mid-leg in water, we halted at a neat village, where, for a few strings of beads, we bought milk and nédé flour which we mixed with it for our dinner; after which we proceeded two miles further to the south. We came again to the Sarano, which we had just crossed; at some little distance from its right bank is a range of hills of no great height, formed of earth and red porous rock. In this part the width of the river is considerable, and its course from south to north. We continued in the same direction for four miles. I perceived some fine fields of rice in ear, and a number of young herdsmen tending their cattle; they had flageolets of bamboo, with which they produced very harmonious sounds. Proceeding along the bank of the river, we reached Mauracé a little before sun-set; a hut was assigned to us, and the hospitable chief sent up a supper of foigné, with an unpleasant dish of herbs without salt.
On the 20th of July, at eight in the morning, we bade adieu to our host; we travelled eleven miles to the S.E. Throughout the whole country, which is very open, are small hamlets of ten or twelve houses, shaded by nédés and cés; the surrounding land is well cultivated, and I saw some fine fields of cotton; upon the whole, less attention is paid to the cultivation of that article in these parts, than to any other; they sow broad-cast, and the plants stand so close together, that they have not room to grow. About half past one, we halted under the shade of some nédés, near a hamlet, the inhabitants of which came to sell us milk and the fruit of the nédé, which we ate in haste, and then continued our route to the S.S.E. for three miles, over a gravelly soil, on which it was very painful walking, for my feet were extremely sore. We proceeded through a plain diversified by a few hillocks and rising grounds, which have no general influence upon the uniformity of the soil, and crossed a large rivulet, where I saw some bombaces and baobabs, intermingled with the nédé and the cé. The day was stormy; we halted at Kandiba, a neat little hamlet overshadowed by nédés. A hut was allotted to me and my guide, and another to the rest of my companions; in our’s we had some foigné straw, which served us for a bed. All the inhabitants of the village and neighbourhood came to see me in the course of the evening, and lighted wisps of straw to have a better view of me; they formed a circle round me, were quite delighted to see me, and paid me many compliments, which my modesty will not permit me to repeat; they appeared very gentle and sprightly. The chief sent us a supper.
On the 21st of July, at nine in the morning, we continued our journey, towards the east, for twelve miles, over a gravelly soil, in some parts varied by a very productive red earth. We crossed a stream on the most incommodious bridge I had yet seen, for it was only a tree, the branches of which hung over the rivulet; my companions, who had loads on their heads, tottered every instant, but we had the good fortune to cross without any mishap. At two in the afternoon, we halted at Sigala, a little village where the prince of Wassoulo resides; my guide introduced me to his presence; a man went before to announce us, and we were permitted to enter his hut, where we found him lying by the side of his dog: the animal, which was of a long-eared species, with a sharp nose, and red hair, did not seem pleased with our visit, for he growled much when we approached him; his master pacified him, and we took our seat near the prince, on his ox-hide. My guide told him that I had been taken prisoner by the christians, and that I was returning to my native land; that I had been very well received in all Fouta, and that the prince of Kankan recommended me to his care. Baramisa seemed very well disposed towards me; he appeared very lively, and addressed many questions to Arafanba, who said, in order to please him, that though I did not know him, I often asked about him on the way, and wanted to see him, with which he seemed flattered. I remarked in his hut a tin tea-pot, a copper dish, and many other vessels of the same metal. From the antique form of these vessels, I guessed that they might be Portuguese. The tea-pot was oval, and supported upon a circular rim at the foot; the handle, which projected a good deal, rose higher than the lid and the lid itself was crowned with a knob, which ended in a point at the top. The dishes were round, like those of pewter, used in Europe; a copper bowl, with a handle and a round pedestal, served to keep his colat-nuts cool. Baramisa had a large gold ear-ring in his right ear, and none in his left; he takes snuff, and smokes, like his subjects, and is not a whit more cleanly; his hut was hung round with bows, arrows, quivers, and lances, two horse saddles, and a great straw hat. I did not perceive any gun. Our visit was short; we returned to the hut allotted to us, and the prince soon afterwards sent a calabash of milk and dégué, which he begged me to accept: I dispatched it with my companions. Baramisa sent for me again, and I went with my guide; he received me in his stable, where he was sitting upon an ox-hide, near a beautiful horse; he made us sit down by his side, and gave me some colat-nuts, which he had put into a copper vessel, with a little water. In our presence he distributed among some of his women a quantity of yams, which had just been dug up. This prince of Wassoulo is reckoned to be very rich in gold and slaves; his subjects often present him with cattle: his wives are numerous, and they have their separate huts, which form together a little village. Before you reach the residence of the prince, you have to pass through several large courts, surrounded with mud walls, and kept very clean. His dwelling is as simple as that of any of his subjects; consisting only of a few round huts, with mud walls; on the outside of these walls, a few stakes are driven into the ground to support the timber work, which is like a pigeon house, and covered with straw; the ground-plot of these huts may be fifty or fifty-five feet in circumference, and they are twelve or fourteen feet high. The environs of this little village are well cultivated, and abounding in pistachios, rice, yams, maize, and a thousand other useful productions. I saw, for the first time since I left the coast, a few specimens of the rhamnus lotus, mentioned by Mungo Park. The prince sent us a pretty good supper of rice, cooked with sour milk, and added a little salt, by way of a luxury; we had rain all the evening, and the air was damp and cool.
On the 22nd of July, about nine in the morning, we took leave of Baramisa, making him a present of a little gunpowder, and a few glass trinkets for his women. We travelled to the S.E.; the soil, though full of small gravel, is well cultivated; cés and nédés we saw in abundance. After we had proceeded about thirteen miles, we crossed a large stream, upon a tottering bridge; the country is for the most part very open, and, from time to time, I saw a few small hills of porous red stone. We halted, at five in the afternoon, at Fila-Dougon, which is the last village of the Wassoulo territory, towards the east. The kind inhabitants gave us their own suppers, for we had eaten nothing that day. The Foulahs came in great numbers to see us; I showed them my umbrella, which they thought little less than miraculous, not understanding how it was possible that I could open and shut it at pleasure. Our fore-court was not clear all the evening, and many of them even came late at night, with wisps of lighted straw, which amused me extremely; they all exclaimed, with a smile when they saw me, “How white he is!” and then they repeated the compliments I had received over-night, adding, “We never yet saw so white a man.” They inquired of my guide, whether the colour of my skin was natural; for these simple and quiet creatures, who never travel, have no idea of white men, beyond what they may happen to pick up from the Mandingo traders, who traverse their country. They are so frank, inoffensive, and hospitably generous to strangers, that, I think a christian might travel undisguised among them without encountering the slightest difficulty.
CHAPTER XI.
Wassoulo. — Manners and customs of the inhabitants. — Flourishing state of agricultural industry. — Hospitality. — Kankary. — Sambatikila. — Reflections on the sale of slaves. — Scarcity. — Description of the residence of the almamy. — Commerce. — Smiths’ work. — Bambara villages. — Arrival at Timé. — Ranges of mountains.