In the course of the following day Mr. Park was informed, that a nephew of Demba Sego Jalla, the Mandingo king of Kasson, was coming to visit him. The prince had been sent out on a mission to Batcheri, king of Kajaaga, to endeavour to settle some disputes between his uncle and the latter, in which, having been unsuccessful, he was on his return to Kasson, to which place he offered to conduct Mr. Park, provided he would set out on the following morning.
Mr. Park gratefully accepted this offer, and, with his attendants, was ready to set out by daylight on the 27th of December. The retinue of Demba Sego was numerous, the whole amounting, on the departure from Joag, to thirty persons and six loaded asses. Having proceeded for some hours, they came to a tree, for which Johnson had made frequent inquiry, and here, having desired them to stop, he produced a white chicken he had purchased at Joag for the purpose, and tied it by the leg to one of the branches; he then declared they might now proceed without fear, for their journey would be prosperous. This circumstance exhibits the power of superstition over the minds of the negroes, for although this man had resided seven years in England, he retained all the prejudices imbibed in his youth. He meant this ceremony, he told Mr. Park, as an offering to the spirits of the wood, who were a powerful race of beings, of a white colour, with long flowing hair.
At noon the travellers stopped at Gungadi, where was a mosque built of clay, with six turrets, on the pinnacles of which were placed six ostrich eggs. Towards evening they arrived at Samee a town on the banks of the Senegal, which is here a beautiful but shallow river, its banks high, and covered with verdure.
On the following day they proceeded to Kajee, a large village, part of which is on the north, and part on the south side of the river. About sunset Mr. Park and Demba Sego embarked in the canoe, which the least motion was likely to overset, and Demba Sego thinking this a proper time to examine a tin box belonging to Mr. Park, that stood in the fore part of the canoe, by stretching out his hand for it, destroyed the equilibrium and overset the vessel. As they were not far advanced, they got back to the shore without much difficulty, and after wringing the water from their clothes, took a fresh departure, and were safely landed in Kasson.
Demba Sego now told Mr. Park, that they were in his uncle's dominions, and he hoped that he would consider the obligation he owed to him, and make him a suitable return by a handsome present. This proposition was rather unexpected by Mr. Park, who began to fear that he had not much improved his condition by crossing the water, but as it would have been folly to complain, he gave the prince seven bars of amber and some tobacco, with which he seemed well satisfied.
In the evening of December the 29th, they arrived at Demba Sego's hut, and the next morning Mr. Park was introduced by the prince to his father, Tigitty Sego, brother to the king of Kasson, chief of Tesee. The old man viewed his visitor with great earnestness, having never beheld but one white man before, whom Mr. Park discovered to be Major Houghton. He appeared to disbelieve what Mr. Park asserted, in answer to his inquiries concerning the motives that induced him to explore the country, and told him that he must go to Kooniakary to pay his respects to the king, but desired to see him again before he left Tesee.
Tesee is a large unwalled town, fortified only by a sort of citadel, in which Tiggity Sego and his family reside. The present inhabitants, though possessing abundance of cattle and corn, eat without scruple rats, moles, squirrels, snakes, locusts, &c. The attendants of Mr. Park were one evening invited to a feast, where making a hearty meal of what they thought to be fish and kouskous, one of them found a piece of hard skin in the dish, which he brought away with him, to show Mr. Park what sort of fish they had been eating. On examining the skin, it was discovered they had been feasting on a large snake. Another custom, which is rigidly adhered to, is, that no woman is allowed to eat an egg, and nothing will more affront a woman of Tesee than to offer her an egg. The men, however, eat eggs without scruple.
The following anecdote will show, that in some particulars the African and European women have a great resemblance to each other, and that conjugal infidelity is by no means confined to the latter. A young man, a kafir of considerable affluence, who had recently married a young and handsome wife, applied to a very devout Bushreen or Mussulman priest of his acquaintance, to procure him saphies for his protection during the approaching war. The Bushreen complied with his request, and to render the saphies more efficacious, enjoined the young man to avoid any nuptial intercourse with his bride for the space of six weeks. The kafir obeyed, and without telling his wife the real cause, absented himself from her company. In the mean time it was whispered that the Bushreen, who always performed his evening devotions at the door of the kafir's hut, was more intimate with the young wife, than was consistent with virtue, or the sanctity of his profession. The husband was unwilling to suspect the honour of his sanctified friend, whose outward show of religion, as is the case with the priests and parsons of the civilized part of the world, protected him from even the suspicion of so flagitious an act. Some time, however, elapsed before any jealousy arose in the mind of the husband, but hearing the charge repeated, he interrogated his wife on the subject, who confessed that the holy man had seduced her. Hereupon the kafir put her into confinement, and called a palaver on the Bushreen's conduct, which Mr. Park was invited to attend. The fact was proved against the priest, and he was sentenced to be sold into slavery, or find two slaves for his redemption, according to the pleasure of the complainant. The injured husband, however, desired rather to have him publicly flogged, before Tiggity Sego's gate; this was agreed to, and the sentence immediately carried into execution. The culprit was tied by the hands to a strong stake, and the executioner with a long black rod round his head, for some time applied it with such dexterity to the Bushreen's back, as to make him roar until the woods resounded. The multitude, by their looking and laughing, manifested how much they enjoyed the punishment of the old gallant, and it is remarkable, that the number of stripes was exactly the same as enjoined by the Mosaic law, forty, save one.
On the 8th of January, Demba Sego, who had borrowed Mr. Park's horse, for the purpose of making a small excursion into the country, returned and informed his father, that he should set out for Kooniakary early the next day. The old man made many frivolous objections, and gave Mr. Park to understand, that he must not depart without paying him the duties to which he was entitled from all travellers; besides which, he expected some acknowledgment for his kindness towards him. Accordingly, the following morning Demba Sego, with a number of people, came to Mr. Park, to see what goods he intended as a present to the old chief. Mr. Park offered them seven bars of amber, and five of tobacco, but Demba, having surveyed these articles, very coolly told him they were not a present suitable to a man of Tiggity Sego's consequence, and if he did not make him a larger offering, he would carry all the baggage to his father, and let him choose for himself. Without waiting for a reply, Demba and his attendants immediately opened the bundles, and spread the different articles upon the floor; everything that pleased them they took without a scruple, and Demba in particular seized the tin box, which had so much attracted his attention in crossing the river. Upon collecting the remains of his little fortune, after these people had left him, Mr. Park found, that as at Joag, he had been plundered of half, so he was here deprived of half the remainder. Having been under some obligations to Demba Sego, Mr. Park did not reproach him for his rapacity, but determined at all events to quit Tesee the following morning; in the mean while, to raise the drooping spirits of his attendants, he purchased a fat sheep, and had it dressed for dinner.
Early in the morning of January the 10th, Mr. Park and his company left Tesee, and about midday came in sight of the hills in the vicinity of Kooniakary. Having slept at a small village, the next morning they crossed a narrow but deep stream, called Krisko, a branch of the Senegal. Proceeding eastward, about two o'clock they came in sight of the native town of Jambo, the blacksmith, from which he had been absent about four years. He was received with the greatest affection by his relations, but he declared that he would not quit Mr. Park during his stay at Kooniakary, and they set out for that place in the morning of the 14th January. About the middle of the day, they arrived at Soolo, a small village about three miles to the south of it, where Mr. Park went to visit a slatee, named Salim Daucari, who had entrusted him with effects to the value of five slaves, and had given Mr. Park an order for the whole of the debt. The slatee received his visitors with great kindness. It was, however, remarkable that the king of Kasson was by some means apprised of the motions of Mr. Park, for he had not been many hours at Soolo, when Sambo Sego, the second son of the king of Kasson, came thither with a party of horse, to inquire what had prevented him from proceeding to Kooniakary, and waiting upon the king, who he said was impatient to see him. Salim Daucari apologised for Mr. Park, and promised to accompany him to Kooniakary. They accordingly departed from Soolo at sunset, and in about an hour entered Kooniakary, but as the king had gone to sleep, the interview was deferred till the next morning, and the travellers slept in the hut of Sambo Sego.