The governor was pleased with the suggestion, and submitted it without delay to a meeting of the council, when it was resolved, that Lieutenant Laing should be permitted to penetrate to the country of the Soolimas, choosing his own road, and the one by which he could most easily communicate his discoveries. He was now in the character of a volunteer traveller, a character which he admirably supported.
This party consisted of Musah Kanta, a native of Foutah Jallon; two soldiers of the second West India regiment, eleven carriers, natives of the Jolof country, and a boy, Mahomed, a native of Sego.
They quitted Sierra Leone in boats on the 16th of April, 1822, and ascending the Rokelle, slept the first night at Mr. M‘Cormick’s factory, who, from his name, seems to have been a countryman of our traveller’s. They took the route through the Timannee country, calling upon the various chieftains and governors who were in their way, from whom they received passes, but often with difficulty, and only on the payment of money, and the presentation of articles, sometimes of considerable value.
While they were upon the point of leaving Rokon, which is in the Timannee country, the king of the place made his appearance in a violent rage, and the cause of his grievance, was a Jolofman, who attended Lieutenant Laing, having had the audacity to dress himself in a new red slop shirt, which the king considering a more splendid habiliment than his own, insisted upon having; this the Jolof obstinately refused; while the king declared it to be the law in his country, (a law made by himself at the moment) “That any man dressed better than himself, especially in red, should forfeit his clothes.” Lieutenant Laing settled this difference by desiring the Jolof to change his shirt, and giving the king a bar of tobacco and a dram of rum. After leaving Rokon, the country for a short time was beautiful and cultivated, and on reaching Nunkaba, they found the female inhabitants busy with their cotton, preparing it for spinning.
On their arrival at Toma, though only sixty miles from Sierra Leone, Lieutenant Laing learned, to his surprise, that “no white man had ever before been seen there.” He says, in his journal, “the first appearance of surprise, that came under my observation was in a woman, who stood fixed like a statue, gazing at the party as they entered the town, and did not stir a muscle till the whole had passed, when she gave a loud halloo of astonishment, and covered her mouth with both her hands.”
This astonishment at their appearance, was sometimes productive of annoyance during the progress of their journey. At Balanduco they found the women busily employed in separating the juicy saffron-coloured fruit from the palm nut; in squeezing it into wooden mortars, and in beating it into one common mash, in order that the oil might be extracted more easily and more commodiously in boiling. Lieutenant Laing estimated that during the season of the fruit, they manufactured, on an average, from thirty to forty gallons a-day.
They now began to feel the fatigues of a long continued journey; they reached Rokanka on the 25th of April, much fatigued, and deprived of water, the inhabitants of the village either being unable or unwilling to supply them with any; and being afraid to enter the woods in search of it, from the whistle of the Purrah being heard in the neighbourhood. The Purrah are a sort of “Robin Hood gang,” who infest the woods, occasionally making an inroad upon some peaceful village, which they invariably plunder; the inhabitants keeping hidden, and never attempting any resistance. They are tatooed in a manner peculiar to themselves, and have gradations of rank in their community. At stated times they hold assemblies, on which occasions, the country is in the greatest alarm, for notices are dispersed abroad concerning them, and the people are obliged to attend; they settle all differences, and inflict capital punishments, according to their pleasure, so that in fact, they are the governors of the country, and Lieutenant Laing says, “that from the nature of their power, and the purposes to which it is applied, they will probably be found a most serious obstacle to its civilization.”
On leaving Rokanka the next day, they came in sight of a stream, after walking about an hour and a quarter, and having suffered so much from thirst, for thirty hours preceding, they were so eager to enjoy it, and indulged so freely in it, that on reaching a town four miles farther, the whole party were attacked with the most violent spasms, Lieutenant Laing suffering particularly, it being six days before he was at all restored to his usual health.
He found some difficulty in procuring permission to depart from Ma-Bung, which was the name of his present residence, being obliged to hold a palaver, as they termed it, with the head men of the place; and it was only after a very long palaver with his interpreter and them, that he was suffered to depart, upon making presents of tobacco, powder, white baft, and rum.
This custom of presenting gifts at every place, was a serious evil, but it was one without which it was impossible to proceed, and occasionally, his attendants and the inhabitants engaged in a scuffle, sometimes difficult to suppress. It is unnecessary to follow his motions minutely; the reader may find them interestingly and particularly recorded in his travels published in 1825, and edited by his friend Captain Sabine.