Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 267 pages of information about Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816.

Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 267 pages of information about Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816.

The third and fourth day, after they had quitted the camp of King Zaide, our travellers were reposing as usual, till the greatest heat of the day should be passed.  During the repast, the minister, who had the contracts between the Prince and the two Frenchmen, took from his great gris-gris, or pocket book, that of Mr. Rogery, who snatched it from him, and tore it into a thousand pieces; immediately one of the Moors rushed upon him, seized him by the throat, with one hand threw him on the ground, and was going to stab him with a dagger which he held in the other; happily, the Prince, out of regard for Mr. Kummer, whom he particularly esteemed, pardoned him who had dared, so seriously, to insult one of his ministers.  But, during the four or five days that the journey continued, they incessantly tormented him; and did not give him a fourth part of what was necessary for his support, so that the unfortunate man was frequently obliged to gnaw the bones which the Moors had thrown away; they also forced him to make the whole journey on foot; it was pretty long; for these gentlemen, on their arrival at St. Louis, estimated it at a hundred and forty leagues at the least, because the Moors made them go so much out of their way.

The respectable Mr. Rogery, a man of rare probity, was disturbed by the recollection of the agreement which he had made with Muhammed, in a moment of difficulty, knowing very well that he could never fulfil it; he thought his honor implicated, and strictly bound by this contract, though he had destroyed it.  This recollection, and his inability to pay, affected his nerves; to this was added fear, lest the contract should be known to his countrymen; and this was what induced him to that act of desperation which had nearly cost him his life, and deprived humanity of one of the most zealous partisans of liberty, and of the abolition of the slave trade.

On the 19th, in the morning, they arrived at a village situated on the bank of one of the arms of Senegal, which is called Marigot of the Maringouins, and which appears to have been the ancient mouth of the river, when it flowed directly to the sea, before it turned aside and flowed to the South.  This position may one day become important, if Senegambia should ever be colonised.

The gentlemen remarked, that the banks of this arm of the river, are very well cultivated; the fields are covered with plantations of cotton-trees, with maize[35] and millet; one meets, at intervals, with tufts of wood, which render it agreeable and healthy.  Mr. Kummer thinks that this country could be adapted to the cultivation of colonial productions.  Here begins Nigritia, and one may say, the country of good people; for, from this moment, the travellers were never again in want of food, and the negroes gave them whatever they wanted.

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Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.