The Landers were now placed in a most unpleasant predicament; they could not possibly obtain a canoe according to the promise of the king of Wowow, and to take those which had been lent them by the chief of Patashie, appeared such a breach of confidence, that they could not prevail upon themselves to commit it, but the necessity of the case pleaded strongly in their favour. They had not the means of purchasing the canoes of the chief of Patashie, as the king of Wowow had adroitly managed to exhaust them of nearly all their resources; but when they began to talk of prosecuting their journey in the canoes belonging to the chief of Patashie, the canoe men stoutly resisted their right: fortunately, however, for them, their busy, restless friend Ducoo interfered on their behalf, and soon silenced their remarks, by threatening to cut off the head of him who should presume from that time to set foot in either of the canoes; and in order to give his menace the greater weight, he stationed two of his men to guard the forbidden boats till the sun went down, with drawn swords, and during the greater part of the night, another of his men paraded up and down the banks of the river near the spot as a watch, and this man kept up a noise by continually playing on a drum.
The four messengers, who had accompanied them from Wowow and Boossa, had hitherto been a great encumbrance upon the Landers, as their maintenance was by no means inconsiderable, at the same time, they were themselves in some measure dependent upon the native chiefs for their support. They were, therefore, heartily rejoiced to get rid of them, and having been paid their stipulated wages, they left the town in company to proceed to Wowow.
The question of the canoes was, however, by no means settled, for the Landers were on a sudden surprised by the arrival of a small party of men, who arrived in a canoe, from the chief of the island of Teàh, with a message to them, purporting that the canoes which they had, to the infinite surprise of the chief, detained at Lever, did not belong as was supposed, to his friend, the chief of Patashie, but were his own property, and as he did not acknowledge the authority of Wowow, but had ever been subject to the king of Nouffie, he considered that they could have no right whatever to the canoes in question, and, therefore, he entreated them to return the canoes by the hands of his messengers. The chief of Teàh asserted, that he had lent them, because he was willing to oblige the white men and his own neighbour, but he did not conceive it possible that they could make so ungrateful and unkind a return for his hospitality, and the respect and attention which it had been his pride and pleasure to show them. For their own parts, they could not forbear acknowledging the truth and justice of the observations of the Teàh chieftain, and blaming themselves for the step they had taken. They said further, that whatever might be the consequence, they had not the slightest objection to restore the canoes to their rightful owner; and provided the men from Teàh could obtain the consent of Ducoo, the priest, to take them away, they were at liberty to do so whenever they might think proper. But this, they were by no means disposed to do, for they both feared and hated Ducoo, and, therefore, they bribed the Nouffie messenger with a large sum of money to assist them in their project, and purposed taking away both canoes in the night time by stealth. These intentions were, however, frustrated by the watchful vigilence of Ducoo, who had mistrusted them long before they were made known to the Landers, and when he had actually detected their plans, he ordered the canoes to be pulled up on shore, two hundred yards at least from the water's edge, and observed with vehemence, "That after what he had done, should they again be launched into the water and taken away, he would instantly tie a rope round the necks of the chief of the town, and the Nouffie messenger that had accepted the bribe, and in that humiliating state, they should be driven like beasts to their sovereign, the magia."
On Friday the 3rd October, they were desired to get their things packed up, for that they would be allowed to proceed on their journey on the following morning. In pursuance of that arrangement, they had got all their luggage in readiness, and only waited the coming of the chief to take their departure, when to their great regret, one of his messengers entered their hut to apprise them, that they would be unable to depart until to-morrow, his master having been dissuaded from his original purpose by the officious, bustling priest, their friend and enemy. They submitted to their disappointment as patiently and silently as they could, and in the evening they obtained a solemn promise, that whatever might be the consequence, no one should divert him from the resolution he had formed of detaining them longer than that day, and that early on the following morning they should certainly depart.
Their surprise and displeasure may, however, be guessed, when after their goods had been removed from the hut into the yard, they were informed, that they would be compelled to remain in the town yet another day, notwithstanding all that the chief had told them on the day preceding. Their patience was now completely exhausted, and they were in great anger, for it was disheartening to be always deceived and trifled with by such scoundrels. Repairing, therefore, to a hut, in which they knew the chief passed the greater part of his time, they discovered him sitting on the ground in company with the artful Ducoo and the Nouffie messenger, and engaged in a very high dispute with both of them. Their unexpected and abrupt intrusion, in a moment cut short their wrangling, and they spoke with much emphasis of the shameful manner in which they had been treated, and expressed their determination of leaving Lever in a few hours, in defiance of them and all their power. With the most insolent effrontery in the world, Ducoo smiled at them, and replied, that they were entirely in his power—that they should do as he liked, and quit the town whenever he thought proper.
Such language as this they thought rather too bold, and they pretended to be in a violent passion, and quickly undeceived him on that point, threatening that if either he or any of his men, should presume to interfere with them in their intention; or proceedings or attempt to hinder them from getting away from the town, they would feel no more hesitation nor reluctance in shooting him, than if he had been a partridge or a guinea hen. The priest, who had never before seen any thing in them but mildness, was intimidated at the determined and resolute behaviour they had found it necessary to adopt; in a moment he was crest-fallen, and from being one of the most boisterous and consequential fellows in the world, became quite passive: yet his presence of mind did not forsake him, he stammered out a kind of apology, attempted to soothe them by soft language and submission, in which he found little difficulty, and did all in his power to effect a reconciliation. Having settled this business, the Landers went out, and assembling their men, attempted to draw their canoe to the river side, but the ground was even, and the boat so long and heavy, that notwithstanding all their exertions, they could move her only a few inches towards the river. The people were ashamed of themselves to see them labouring so hard, and to so little purpose, and Ducoo likewise, observing them, was convinced that they were in earnest, therefore, whispering a few words in the ear of the chief, they both came down to the spot, where they were toiling at the canoe, followed by a number of men; these, with the priest at their head, took the work out of their hands, and in less than two minutes the boat was floating on the water. Their luggage was then conveyed into the two canoes, and shortly afterwards they were supplied with three men to paddle them, with the assistance of their own. Here they took their farewell of the chief and the priest, the latter begging them very anxiously to speak well of him to his sovereign at Rabba.
It was not till after they were all in the canoes, and ready to push off, that those on shore discovered them to be overladen, and recommended them to hire one of immense size, which was lying alongside. Without stopping to make them any reply, or listen to any further nonsense, they desired their own men to push the boats out into the middle of the current, which was done very promptly, and the town of Lever, with its chief and inhabitants, was speedily out of sight and soon forgotten.
About one o'clock they landed at a considerable large and spacious town, called Bajiebo, inhabited by Nouffie people, although, it is situated on the Yarriba, or western side of the river. For dirt, bustle, and nastiness of all kinds, this place exceeded anything they had ever seen before. For two hours after their arrival they were obliged to wait in a close diminutive hut, till a more convenient and becoming habitation could be procured for their reception, and the pleasure of the chief with regard to them should be known. They were much incommoded by visitors, who scarcely allowed them to move or breathe, which, joined to the heat of the weather and the insufferable stench, rendered their situation truly comfortless and distressing.
They were at length removed from this horrible hole, and conducted to a hut in the heart of the town, in which wood fires had been burning the whole of the day, so that the wall was almost as warm as the sides of a heated oven, insomuch that it could scarcely be endured. Yet, to render it more unpleasant still, a large closely woven mat was placed before the door way, in order to prevent a thousand eyes from staring in upon them, and which excluded every breath of air. Their feelings during the whole of the night, were more distressing than could be conceived; they were almost suffocated with the closeness and intense heat of the room, and dreamt that they were being baked alive in an oven.
Bajiebo is a flourishing and important trading town, although not walled, and one of the largest and most populous that they had yet seen. The huts are erected so close to each other, and with so little regard to comfort, and a free circulation of air, that there is scarcely a foot path in the town wide enough for more than one man to walk on at a time, and not having the advantage of shady trees, the heat of the town was excessive and distressing.