by Mungo Park
As we approached the town, I was fortunate enough to overtake the fugitive Kaartans, to whose kindness I had been so much indebted in my journey through Bambarra. They readily agreed to introduce me to the king; and we rode together through some marshy ground, where, as I was anxiously looking around for the river, one of them called out, geo affili (see the water), and looking forwards, I saw with infinite pleasure the great object of my mission – the long sought for majestic Niger, glittering to the morning sun, as broad as the Thames at Westminster, and flowing slowly to the eastward. I hastened to the brink, and, having drank of the water, lifted up my fervent thanks in prayer to the Great Ruler of all things, for having thus far crowned my endeavours with success.
The circumstance of the Niger’s flowing towards the east, and its collateral points, did not, however, excite my surprise; for although I had left Europe in great hesitation on this subject, and rather believed that it ran in the contrary direction, I had made such frequent enquiries during my progress, concerning this river, and received from Negroes, of different nations, such clear and decisive assurances that its general course was towards the rising sun, as scarce left any doubt on my mind; and more especially as I knew that Major Houghton had collected similar information in the same manner.
Sego, the capital of Bambarra, at which I had now arrived, consists, properly speaking, of four distinct towns; two on the northern bank of the Niger, called Sego Korro and Sego Boo; and two on the southern bank, called Sego Soo Korro and Sego See Korro. They are all surrounded with high mud walls; the houses are built of clay, of a square form, with flat roofs; some of them have two storeys, and many of them are whitewashed. Besides these buildings, Moorish mosques are seen in every quarter; and the streets, though narrow, are broad enough for every useful purpose, in a country where wheel-carriages are entirely unknown. From the best enquiries I could make, I have reason to believe that Sego contains altogether about thirty thousand inhabitants. The king of Bambarra constantly resides at Sego See Korro; he employs a great many slaves in conveying people over the river, and the money they receive (though the fare is only ten cowrie shells for each individual) furnishes a considerable revenue to the king in the course of a year. The canoes are of a singular construction, each of them being formed of the trunks of two large trees, rendered concave, and joined together, not side by side, but end ways; the junction being exactly across the middle of the canoe; they are therefore very long and disproportionately narrow, and have neither decks nor masts; they are, however, very roomy; for I observed in one of them four horses, and several people crossing over the river. When we arrived at this ferry, with a view to pass over to that part of the town in which the king resides, we found a great number waiting for a passage; they looked at me with silent wonder, and I distinguished, with concern, many Moors among them. There were three different places of embarkation, and the ferrymen were very diligent and expeditious; but, from the crowd of people, I could not immediately obtain a passage; and sat down upon the bank of the river, to wait for a more favourable opportunity. The view of this extensive city; the numerous canoes upon the river; the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding country, formed altogether a prospect of civilisation and magnificence, which I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa.
I waited more than two hours without having an opportunity of crossing the river; during which time, the people who had crossed carried information to Mansong, the king, that a white man was waiting for a passage, and was coming to see him. He immediately sent over one of his chief men, who informed me that the king could not possibly see me, until he knew what had brought me into his country; and that I must not presume to cross the river without the king’s permission. He therefore advised me to lodge at a distant village, to which he pointed, for the night; and said that in the morning he would give me further instructions how to conduct myself. This was very discouraging. However, as there was no remedy, I set off for the village; where I found, to my great mortification, that no person would admit me into his house. I was regarded with astonishment and fear, and was obliged to sit all day without victuals, in the shade of a tree; and the night threatened to be very uncomfortable, for the wind rose, and there was great appearance of a heavy rain; and the wild beasts are so very numerous in the neighbourhood, that I should have been under the necessity of climbing up the tree, and resting among the branches. About sunset, however, as I was preparing to pass the night in this manner, and had turned my horse loose, that he might graze at liberty, a woman, returning from the labours of the field, stopped to observe me, and perceiving that I was weary and dejected, enquired into my situation, which I briefly explained to her; whereupon, with looks of great compassion, she took up my saddle and bridle, and told me to follow her. Having conducted me into her hut, she lighted up a lamp, spread a mat on the floor, and told me I might remain there for the night. Finding that I was very hungry, she said she would procure me something to eat. She accordingly went out, and returned in a short time with a very fine fish; which having caused to be half-broiled upon some embers, she gave me for supper. The rites of hospitality being thus performed towards a stranger in distress, my worthy benefactress (pointing to the mat, and telling me I might sleep there without apprehension) called to the female part of her family, who had stood gazing on me all the while in fixed astonishment, to resume their task of spinning cotton; in which they continued to employ themselves great part of the night. They lightened their labour by songs, one of which was composed extempore; for I was myself the subject of it. It was sung by one of the young women, the rest joining in a sort of chorus. The air was sweet and plaintive, and the words, literally translated, were these: – ‘The winds roared, and the rains fell. The poor white man, faint and weary, came and sat under our tree. He has no mother to bring him milk; no wife to grind his corn.’ Chorus – ‘Let us pity the white man; no mother has he,’ etc etc Trifling as this recital may appear to the reader, to a person in my situation, the circumstance was affecting in the highest degree. I was oppressed by such unexpected kindness; and sleep fled from my eyes. In the morning I presented my compassionate landlady with two of the four brass buttons which remained on my waistcoat; the only recompense I could make her.
July 21st – I continued in the village all this day in conversation with the natives, who came in crowds to see me; but was rather uneasy towards evening, to find that no message had arrived from the king; the more so as the people began to whisper, that Mansong had received some very unfavourable accounts of me from the Moors and Slatees residing at Sego; who, it seems, were exceedingly suspicious concerning the motives of my journey. I learnt that many consultations had been held with the king concerning my reception and disposal; and some of the villagers frankly told me, that I had many enemies, and must expect no favour.
July 22nd – About eleven o’clock, a messenger arrived from the king, but he gave me very little satisfaction. He enquired particularly if I had brought any present, and seemed much disappointed when he was told that I had been robbed of everything by the Moors. When I proposed to go along with him, he told me to stop until the afternoon, when the king would send for me.
July 23rd – In the afternoon another messenger arrived from Mansong, with a bag in his hands. He told me it was the king’s pleasure that I should depart forthwith from the vicinage of Sego; but that Mansong wishing to relieve a white man in distress, had sent me five thousand cowries,* to enable me to purchase provisions in the course of my journey; the messenger added, that if my intentions were really to proceed to Jenné, he had orders to accompany me as a guide to Sansanding. I was at first puzzled to account for this behaviour of the king; but from the conversation I had with the guide, I had afterwards reason to believe that Mansong would willingly have admitted me into his presence at Sego, but was apprehensive he might not be able to protect me against the blind and inveterate malice of the Moorish inhabitants. His conduct, therefore, was at once prudent and liberal.
The circumstances under which I made my appearance at Sego, were undoubtedly such as might create in the mind of the king a well-warranted suspicion that I wished to conceal the true object of my journey. He argued probably, as my guide argued: who, when he was told that I had come from a great distance, and through many dangers, to behold the Joliba river, naturally enquired, if there were no rivers in my own country, and whether one river was not like another. Notwithstanding this, and in spite of the jealous machinations of the Moors, this benevolent prince thought it sufficient, that a white man was found in his dominions, in a condition of extreme wretchedness; and that no other plea was necessary to entitle the sufferer to his bounty.
* Mention has already been made of these little shells (p. 33) which pass current as money, in many parts of the East Indies, as well as Africa. In Bambarra, and the adjacent countries, where the necessaries of life are very cheap, one hundred of them would commonly purchase a day’s provisions for myself and corn for my horse. I reckoned about two hundred and fifty cowries equal to one shilling.
Chapter 16
Departure from Sego and arrival at Kabba – Description of the Shea, or vegetable butter tree – The Author and his guide arrive at Sansanding – Behaviour of the Moors at that place – The Author pursues his journey to the eastward – Incidents on the road – Arrives at Modiboo, and proceeds for Kea; but obliged to leave his horse by the way – Embarks at Kea in a fisherman’s canoe for Moorzan; is conveyed from thence across the Niger to Silla – Determines to proceed no further eastward – Some account of the further course of the Niger, and the towns in its vicinage, towards the east.
BEING, IN THE MANNER THAT HAS BEEN RELATED, compelled to leave Sego, I was conducted the same evening to a village about seven miles to the eastward, with some of the inhabitants of which my guide was acquainted, and by whom we were well received.* He was very friendly and communicative, and spoke highly of the hospitality of his countrymen; but withal told me, that if Jenné was the place of my destination, which he seemed to have hitherto doubted, I had undertaken an enterprise of greater danger than probably I was apprised of; for, although the town of Jenné was nominally a part of the king of Bambarra’s dominions, it was, in fact, he said, a city of the Moors; the leading part of the inhabitants being Bushreens, and even the governor himself, though appointed by Mansong, of the same sect. Thus was I in danger of falling a second time into the hands of men who would consider it not only justifiable, but meritorious, to destroy me; and this reflection was aggravated by the circumstance, that the danger increased as I advanced in my journey; for I learned that the places beyond Jenné were under the Moorish influence, in a still greater degree than Jenné itself; and Timbuctoo, the great object of my search, altogether in possession of that savage and merciless people, who allow no Christian to live there. But I had now advanced too far to think of returning to the westward, on such vague and uncertain information, and determined to proceed; and, being accompanied by the guide, I departed from the village on the morning of the 24th. About eight o’clock we passed a large town called Kabba, situated in the midst of a beautiful and highly-cultivated country; bearing a greater resemblance to the centre of England than to what I should have supposed had been the middle of Africa. The people were everywhere employed in collecting the fruit of the shea trees, from which they prepare the vegetable butter mentioned in former parts of this work. These trees grow in great abundance all over this part of Bambarra. They are not planted by the natives, but are found growing naturally in the woods; and in clearing wood land for cultivation, every tree is cut down but the shea. The tree itself very much resembles the American oak; and the fruit, from the kernel of which, being first dried in the sun, the butter is prepared by boiling the kernel in water, has somewhat the appearance of a Spanish olive. The kernel is enveloped in a sweet pulp, under a thin green rind; and the butter produced from it, besides the advantage of its keeping the whole year without salt, is whiter, firmer, and, to my palate, of a richer flavour than the best butter I ever tasted made from cow’s milk. The growth and preparation of this commodity seem to be among the first objects of African industry in this and the neighbouring states; and it constitutes a main article of their inland commerce.
We passed, in the course of the day, a great many villages, inhabited chiefly by fishermen; and in the evening about five o’clock, arrived at Sansanding, a very large town, containing, as I was told, from eight to ten thousand inhabitants. This place is much resorted to by the Moors, who bring salt from Beeroo, and beads and coral from the Mediterranean, to exchange here for gold-dust and cotton cloth. This cloth they sell to great advantage in Beeroo, and other Moorish countries, where, on account of the want of rain, no cotton is cultivated.
I desired my guide to conduct me to the house in which we were to lodge, by the most private way possible. We accordingly rode along between the town and the river, passing by a creek or harbour, in which I observed twenty large canoes, most of them fully loaded, and covered with mats to prevent the rain from injuring the goods. As we proceeded, three other canoes arrived, two with passengers and one with goods. I was happy to find that all the Negro inhabitants took me for a Moor; under which character I should probably have passed unmolested, had not a Moor, who was sitting by the river side, discovered the mistake, and setting up a loud exclamation, brought together a number of his countrymen.
When I arrived at the house of Counti Mamadi, the Dooty of the town, I was surrounded with hundreds of people, speaking a variety of different dialects, all equally unintelligible to me. At length, by the assistance of my guide, who acted as interpreter, I understood that one of the spectators pretended to have seen me at one place, and another at some other place, and a Moorish woman absolutely swore that she had kept my house three years at Gallam, on the river Senegal. It was plain that they mistook me for some other person, and I desired two of the most confident to point towards the place where they had seen me. They pointed due south; hence I think it probable that they came from Cape Coast, where they might have seen many white men. Their language was different from any I had yet heard. The Moors now assembled in great numbers; with their usual arrogance compelling the Negroes to stand at a distance. They immediately began to question me concerning my religion; but finding that I was not master of the Arabic, they sent for two men, whom they call Ilhuidi (Jews), in hopes that they might be able to converse with me. These Jews, in dress and appearance, very much resemble the Arabs; but though they so far conform to the religion of Mahomet as to recite, in public, prayers from the Koran, they are but little respected by the Negroes; and even the Moors themselves allowed, that though I was a Christian, I was a better man than a Jew. They, however, insisted that, like the Jews, I must conform so far as to repeat the Mohammedan prayers; and when I attempted to waive the subject, by telling them that I could not speak Arabic, one of them, a Shereef from Tuat, in the Great Desert, started up and swore by the Prophet, that if I refused to go to the mosque he would be one that would assist in carrying me thither. And there is no doubt but this threat would have been immediately executed, had not my landlord interposed in my behalf. He told them that I was the king’s stranger, and he could not see me ill treated whilst I was under his protection. He therefore advised them to let me alone for the night; assuring them that in the morning I should be sent about my business. This somewhat appeased their clamour; but they compelled me to ascend a high seat by the door of the mosque, in order that everybody might see me, for the people had assembled in such numbers as to be quite ungovernable – climbing upon the houses, and squeezing each other like the spectators at an execution. Upon this seat I remained until sunset, when I was conducted into a neat little hut, with a small court before it, the door of which Counti Mamadi shut, to prevent any person from disturbing me. But this precaution could not exclude the Moors. They climbed over the top of the mud-wall, and came in crowds into the court, in order, they said, to see me perform my evening devotions, and eat eggs. The form
er of these ceremonies I did not think proper to comply with; but I told them I had no objections to eat eggs, provided they would bring me eggs to eat. My landlord immediately brought me seven hen’s eggs, and was much surprised to find that I could not eat them raw; for it seems to be a prevalent opinion among the inhabitants of the interior, that Europeans subsist almost entirely on this diet. When I had succeeded in persuading my landlord that this opinion was without foundation, and that I would gladly partake of any victuals which he might think proper to send me, he ordered a sheep to be killed, and part of it dressed for my supper. About midnight, when the Moors had left me, he paid me a visit, and with much earnestness desired me to write him a saphie. ‘If a Moor’s saphie is good (said this hospitable old man), a white man’s must needs be better.’ I readily furnished him with one possessed of all the virtues I could concentrate, for it contained the Lord’s prayer. The pen with which it was written was made of a reed; a little charcoal and gum-water made very tolerable ink, and a thin board answered the purpose of paper.
