CHAPTER IX.

Account of Jarra, and the Moorish inhabitants. The Author obtains permission from Ali, the Moorish chief or Sovereign of Ludamar, to pass through his territories. Leaves Jarra, and arrives at Deena; is ill treated by the Moors. Proceeds to Sampaka; finds a Negro who makes gunpowder. Continues his journey to Samee, where he is seized by some Moors who are sent for that purpose by Ali, and he is conveyed a prisoner to the Moorish camp at Benowm, on the borders of the Great Desert.

THE town of Jarra is of considerable extent; the houses are built of clay and stone intermixed; the clay answering the purpose of mortar: It is situated in the Moorish kingdom of Ludamar; but the major part of the inhabitants are Negroes, from the borders of the southern states, who prefer a precarious protection under the Moors, which they purchase by a tribute, rather than continue exposed to their predatory hostilities: The tribute they pay is considerable; and they manifest towards their Moorish superiors the most unlimited obedience and submission, and are treated by them with the utmost indignity and contempt. The Moors of this, and the other states adjoining the country of the Negroes, resemble in their persons the Mulattoes of the West Indies to so great a degree, as not easily to be distinguished from them; and in truth, the present generation seem to be a mixed race between the Moors, properly so called, of the North, and the Negroes of the South; possessing many of the worst qualities of both nations.

Of the origin of these Moorish tribes, as distinguished from the inhabitants of Barbary, from whom they are dir vided by the Great Desert nothing farther seems to be known than what is related by John Leo, the African; whose account may be abridged as follows:

Before the Arabian conquest, about the middle of the seventh century, all the inhabitants of Africa, whether they were descended from Numidians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians. Romans, Vandals, or Goths, were comprehended under the general name of Mouri, or Moors. All these nations were converted to the religion of Mahomet, during

the Arabian empire under the Caliphs. About this time many of the Numidian tribes, who led a wandering life in the Desert, and supported themselves upon the produce of their cattle, retired southward across the Great Desert, to avoid the fury of the Arabians; and by one of those tribes, says Leo, (that of Zanhaga) were discovered and conquered by the Negro Nations on the Niger. By the Niger, is here undoubtedly meant the river Senegal, which in the Mandingo language is called Bafing, or the Black river."

To what extent these people are now spread over the African continent, it is difficult to ascertain. There is reason to believe, that their dominion, stretches from West to East, in a narrow line or belt, from the mouth of the Senegal, on the northern side of that river, to the confines of Abyssinia. They are a subtle and treacherous race of people; and take every opportunity of cheating and plundering the credulous and unsuspecting Negroes. But their manners and general habits of life will be best explained, as incidents occur in the course of my narrative. On my arrival at Jarra, I obtained a lodging at the house of Daman Jumma, a Gambia Slatee. This man had formerly borrowed goods from Dr. Laidley, who had given me an order for the money, to the amount of six slaves; and though the debt was of five years standing, he readily acknowledged it, and promised me what money he could raise. He was afraid, he said, in his present situation, he could not pay more than two slaves' value. He gave me his assistance, however, in exchanging my beads and amber for gold, which was a more portable article, and more easily concealed from the Moors.

The difficulties we had already encountered, the unsettled state of the country, and, above all, the savage and overbearing deportment of the Moors, had so completely frightened my attendants, that they declared they would rather relinquish every claim to reward than proceed one step farther to the eastward. Indeed, the danger they incurred of being seized by the Moors and sold into slavery, became every day more apparent; and I could not condemn their apprehensions. In this situation, deserted by my attendants, and reflecting that my retreat was cut off by the war behind me, and that a Moorish country of ten days' journey lay before me, I applied to Daman to obtain permission from Ali, the chief or sovereign of Ludamar,

that I might pass through his country unmolested, into Bambarra; and I hired one of Daman's slaves to accompany me thither, as soon as such permission should be obtained. A messenger was dispatched to Ali, who at this time was encamped near Benowm; and as a present was necessary, in order to insure success, I sent him five garments of cotton cloth, which I purchased of Daman for one of my fowling-pieces. Fourteen days elapsed in settling this affair; but, on the evening of the 26th of February, one of Ali's slaves arrived with directions, as he pretended, to conduct me in safety, as far as Goomba; and told me, I was to pay him one garment of blue cotton cloth for his attend. ance. My faithful boy, observing that I was about to proceed without him, resolved to accompany me; and told me, that though he wished me to turn back, he never had entertained any serious thoughts of deserting me, but had been advised to it by Johnson, with a view to induce me to return immediately for Gambia.

February 27th. I delivered most of my papers to Johnson, to convey them to Gambia as soon as possible, reserving a duplicate for myself, in case of accidents. I likewise left in Daman's possession a bundle of clothes and other things that were not absolutely necessary; for I wished to diminish my baggage as much as possible, that the Moors might have fewer inducements to plunder us.

Things being thus adjusted, we departed from Jarra in the forenoon, and slept at Troomgoomba, a small walled village, inhabited by a mixture of Negroes and Moors. On the day following, Feb. 28th, we reached Queira; and on the 29th, after a toilsome journey over a sandy country we came to Compe, a watering place belonging to the Moors; from whence on the morning following, we proceeded to Deena, a large town, and, like Jarra, built of stone and clay. The Moors are here in greater proportion to the Negroes than at Jarra. They assembled round the hut of the Negro where I lodged, and treated me with the greatest insolence; they hissed, shouted, and abused me; they even spit in my face, with a view to irritate me, and afford them a pretext for seizing my baggage. But, finding such insults had not the desired effect, they had recourse to the final and decisive argument, that I was a Christian, and of course, that my property was lawful plunder to the followers of Mahomet. They accordingly opened

my bundles, and robbed me of every thing they fancied. My attendants finding that every body could rob me with impunity, insisted on returning to Jarra.

The day following, March 2d, I endeavoured by all the means in my power, to prevail upon my people to go on; but they still continued obstinate; and having reason to fear some further insult from fanatic Moors, I resolved to proceed alone. Accordingly the next morning, about two o'clock, I departed from Deena. It was moonlight, but the roaring of the wild beasts made it necessary to proceed with caution.

When I had reached a piece of rising ground about half a mile from the town, I heard somebody halloo, and looking back, saw my faithful boy running after me. He informed me, that Ali's man had gone back to Benowm, and that Daman's Negro was about to depart for Jarra; but he said he had no doubt, if I would stop a little, that he could persuade the latter to accompany us. I waited accordingly, and in about an hour the boy returned with the Negro; and we continued travelling over a sandy country, covered with asclepias gigantica, until mid day, when we came to a number of deserted huts; and seeing some appearances of water at a little distance, I sent the boy to fill a soofroo; but as he was examining the place for water, the roaring of a lion, that was probably on the same pursuit, induced the frightened boy to return in haste, and we submitted patiently to the disappointment. In the afternoon we reached a town inhabited chiefly by Foulahs, called Samamingkoos,

Next morning, March 4th, we set out for Sampaka; which place we reached about two o'clock. On the road we observed immense quantities of locusts; the trees were quite black with them. These insects devour every vegetable that comes in their way, and in a short time completely strip a tree of its leaves. The noise of their excrement falling upon the leaves and withered grass, very much resembles a shower of rains When a tree is shaken or struck, it is astonishing to see what a cloud of them will fly off. In their flight they yield to the current of the wind, which at this season of the year is always from the N. E. Should the wind shift, it is difficult to conceive where they could collect food, as the whole of their course was marked with desolation.

Sampaka is a large town, and when the Moors and Bambarrans were at war, was thrice attacked by the former; but they were driven off with great loss, though the king of Bambarra was afterwards obliged to give up this, and all the other towns as far as Goomba, in order to obtain a peace. Here I lodged at the house of a Negro who practised the art of making gunpowder. He shewed me a bag of nitre, very white, but the crystals were much smaller than common. They procure it in considerable quantities from the ponds which are filled in the rainy season, and to which the cattle resort for coolness during the heat of the day. When the water is evaporated, a white efflorescence is observed on the mud, which the natives collect and purify in such a manner as to answer their purpose. The Moors supply them with sulphur from the Mediterranean; and the process is completed by pounding the different articles together in a wooden mortar. The grains are very unequal, and the sound of its explosion is by no means so sharp as that produced by European gunpowder.

March 5th. We departed from Sampaka at daylight. About noon we stopped at a little village called Dangali, and in the evening arrived at Dalli. We saw upon the road two large herds of camels feeding. When the Moors turn their camels to feed, they tie up one of their fore legs to prevent their straying. This happened to be a feastday at Daili, and the people were dancing before the Dooti's house. But when they were informed that a white man was come into the town, they left off dancing, and came to the place where I lodged, walking in regular order, two and two, with music before them. They play upon a sort of flute; but instead of blowing into a hole in the side, they blow obliquely over the end, which is half shut by a thin piece of wood; they govern the holes on the side with their fingers, and play some simple and very plaintive airs. They continued to dance and sing until midnight; during which time I was surrounded by so great a crowd, as made it necessary for me to satisfy their curiosity, by sitting still.

March 6th. We stopt here this morning, because some of the towns-people, who were going for Goomba on the day following, wished to accompany us; but in order to avoid the crowd of people which usually assembled in the evening, we went to a Negro village to the east of Dalli, called Samee, where we were kindly received by the hos