Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa by Mungo Park
page 184 of 456 (40%)
page 184 of 456 (40%)
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reserve some of this precious merchandize for a future occasion.
I reached a small town called Wassiboo, about twelve o'clock, where I was obliged to stop until an opportunity should offer of procuring a guide to Satile, which is distant a very long day's journey, through woods without any beaten path. I accordingly took up my residence at the Dooty's house, where I staid four days; during which time I amused myself by going to the fields with the family to plant corn. Cultivation is carried on here on a very extensive scale; and, as the natives themselves express it, "hunger is never known." In cultivating the soil, the men and women work together. They use a large sharp hoe, much superior to that used in Gambia; but they are obliged, for fear of the Moors, to carry their arms with them to the field. The master, with the handle of his spear, marks the field into regular plats, one of which is assigned to every three slaves. On the evening of the 11th, eight of the fugitive Kaartans arrived at Wassiboo.--They had found it impossible to live under the tyrannical government of the Moors, and were now going to transfer their allegiance to the King of Bambarra. They offered to take me along with them as far as Satile; and I accepted the offer. July 12th. At daybreak we set out, and travelled with uncommon expedition until sunset: we stopped only twice in the course of the day; once at a watering-place in the woods, and another time at the ruins of a town formerly belonging to Daisy, called _Illa Compe_, (the corn town). When we arrived in the neighbourhood of Satile, the people who were employed in the corn fields, seeing so many horsemen, took us for a party of Moors, and ran screaming away from us. The whole town was instantly alarmed, the slaves were seen, in every direction, driving the cattle and |
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