Whenever a town is deprived of its chief, the inhabitants acknowledge no law; anarchy, troubles, and confusion immediately prevail, and until a successor is appointed, all labour is at an end. The stronger oppress the weak, and perpetrate every species of crime, without being amenable to any tribunal for their actions. Private property is no longer respected, and thus, before a person arrives to curb its licentiousness, a town is not unfrequently reduced from a flourishing state of prosperity and of happiness to all the horrors of desolation.
Considerable surprise was now excited at the delay of the messenger, who was sent to Badagry for the horses, on which they placed so much value, for he had not yet returned, although he promised to be back in four days from the time of his departure. As he had exceeded the time by a whole day, and being a native of Badagry, the travellers had given up all hopes of again seeing either him or the horse, or even the message sword they had lent him as a token that he had been sent by them. Positive a.s.surances were given them that leave would be granted to depart from Jenna on the following week, but as they had only one horse, they would be obliged to take it in turns to ride, or procure a hammock, which it would be a difficult thing to get, and attended with considerable expense.
In the mean time, the devoted old queen dowager engrossed the chief part of their attention, although her doom was inevitably fixed, yet her cheerfulness appeared rather to increase, and she seemed determined to spin out her thread of life to its utmost limit; spies were now set over her, and she was not permitted to go out of the yard.
On Monday the 12th of April, the travellers had the customary visit to their yard of a long line of women, who came every morning with rueful countenances and streaming eyes to lament the approaching death of the old widow. They wept, they beat their breast and tore their hair; they moaned, and exhibited all manner of violent affliction at the expected deprivation. Perhaps their sorrow was sincere, perhaps it was feigned; at all events their lamentations were ungovernable and outrageous; the first woman in the line begins the cry, and is instantly followed by the other voices; the opening notes of the lamentation were rather low and mournful, the last wild and piercing.
The princ.i.p.al people of the place finding the old lady still obstinately bent on deferring her exit, sent a messenger to her native village, to make known to her relatives, that should she make her escape, they would take all of them into slavery, and burn their town to ashes, in conformity to an established and very ancient law.
They therefore strongly advised the relatives of the old woman for their own sakes, and for the sake of the public, to use all their endeavours to prevail upon her to meet her fate honourably and with fort.i.tude. A deputation was expected from the village on the morrow, when no doubt, after a good deal of crying and condoling, and talking and persuading, the matter will eventually be decided against the old lady. It was well understood that she had bribed a few of the most opulent and influential inhabitants of Jenna with large sums of money, to induce them to overlook her dereliction from the path of duty, and by their representations that she had obtained the tacit consent of the king of Katunga to live out the full term of her natural life. But the people for many miles round, horror-struck at such impiety and contempt for ancient customs, rose to enforce the laws of her country against her.
On Tuesday April 13th, the town of Jenna was visited by one of those terrific thunder storms, which are so prevalent in those lat.i.tudes.
The thatched hut in which the Landers resided, afforded but an insecure and uncertain asylum against its fury. Part of the roof was swept away, and the rain admitted freely upon their beds, whence the most awful lightning flashes could be seen, making "darkness visible." It appeared as if the genius of the storm were driving through the murky clouds in his chariot of fire to awaken the slumbering creation, and make them feel and acknowledge his power. It was, indeed, a grand lesson to human pride, to contemplate the terrors of a tornado through the trembling walls and roof of a gloomy dilapidated hut in the interior of Africa. It is scenes like these, which make the traveller think of his home, his friends, and his fireside enjoyments, and by comparison, estimate the blessings which are his portion in his native land. In civilized countries, when men are visited by an awful calamity of this kind, the distinctions of rank are levelled, and numbers flock together, for the purpose of keeping each other in countenance, and strengthening each other"s nerves; but here all was naked, gloomy, desolate.
They pa.s.sed the night, as may be supposed, in a very uncomfortable state. The roof of their dwelling had long been infested with a mult.i.tude of rats and mice; and these vermin being dislodged from their haunts, by the violence of the wind and rain, sought immediate shelter between their bed-clothes; and to this very serious inconvenience was added another still greater, viz. the company of lizards, ants, mosquitoes, besides worms and centipedes, and other crawling, creeping, and noxious things, which the tempest seemed to renovate with life and motion. After a long, long night, the morning at length appeared, and the terrors of the storm were forgotten.
Not long after sunrise, two fresh legions of women entered their yard, to mourn with their old mistress, and the shrieks and lamentations of these visitors, were more violent than any of their predecessors. It made them shudder to hear their cries. The piercing cries, that a.s.sailed the ears of Telemachus, at his entrance into the infernal regions, were not more dolorous or fearful. Their eyes were red with weeping; their hands were clasped on the crown of the head; their hair was in frightful disorder, and two channels of tears were plainly seen flowing down over the naked bosom of each of the women. In this manner they pa.s.sed before the threshold of the hut in two close lines, and were observed to bend the knee to the venerable matron, without uttering a word. They then rose and departed, and their cries could be heard long after they were out of sight.
Matters were now arranged for their departure, and after breakfast they went to pay their last respects to the governor. Of course they were obliged to wait a tiresome length of time outside his residence, before admittance was obtained; but when the doors were opened, the band that were in attendance inside, played a native tune as a token of welcome. A greater number of drummers were observed than on any former occasion. Some of their instruments were something in the shape of a cone, and profusely ornamented with plates and figures of bra.s.s. On one of these was represented the busts of two men, with a tortoise in the act of eating out of the mouth of one of them. The tortoise had a c.o.c.k by its side, and two dogs standing as guardians of the whole. These figures were ail ingeniously carved in solid bra.s.s. Both ends of the larger drums were played on with the palms of the hand; hundreds of little bra.s.s bells were suspended round the edges for ornament rather than use; for being without clappers, they could not produce any sound. The common native drum is beaten on one of its ends only, and with a stick shaped like a bow.
After a little conversation, the chief and his princ.i.p.al people shook the Landers affectionately by the hand, and wished them every blessing; and as soon as they got outside the yard, they mounted their horses and rode out of the town. The chief of Larro had broken his promise, but they were fortunate enough to meet with and purchase another horse that morning, so that they cared little about it. Their pathway led through a champaign country, partially wooded; and after a pleasant ride of three quarters of an hour, they entered the small village of Bidjie. Here their carriers dropped their loads, nor could they be induced to resume them by the most pressing solicitations.
Nor would the villagers, as their duty required, take them up; but when they were begged to do so, they laughed at them, so that they were compelled to remain at Bidjie until the following day. This was very provoking, but such was the tiresome mode of travelling through this country. No consideration can induce the natives to shake off their habitual indolence, not if a voice from heaven were to be heard, would they do it. Pleasure and sloth are with them synonymous terms, and they are scarcely alive to any other gratification. In the mean time, the chief, who appeared to be a very good sort of man, although he had little authority over his people, sent them a fatted goat; and being in good health, and having very encouraging prospects held out to them as to their future progress, they were determined to forget their little troubles and vexations, and spend the evening as cheerfully as they could.
Hawks and vultures are exceedingly numerous both at Jenna and this place, the former are bold and disgusting birds, but the latter are so hungry and rapacious that they pounce fearlessly in the midst of the natives when at their meals. Whilst the Landers were at supper, one of them darted at a piece of meat, which one of their men held between his fingers, and s.n.a.t.c.hed it from him whilst he was conveying it to his mouth.
At an early hour of Wednesday the 14th April, to the infinite surprise and pleasure of the Landers, the man from Badagry made his appearance with one of their horses and an English saddle. The latter was as acceptable to them as the horse, for on the preceding day, for want of a saddle, they were obliged to subst.i.tute a piece of cloth, and the back of the animal being as sharp as a knife, it was no very pleasant thing to ride him; walking would have been the far less irksome exercise of the two. Pascoe, whose sagacity and experience proved of infinite service to them, was lamed in his endeavours to walk as fast as the rest of the party, and as he had the misfortune of having one leg shorter than the other he became the general b.u.t.t and laughing stock of his more robust companions. This day, however, they mounted him on the extra horse, on the back of which he retorted their revilings, and the whole of them became as envious of his dignity, as they were before facetious at his expense.
They took their departure from Bidjie while the morning was yet cool and pleasant, and arrived at Chow before eleven o"clock in the forenoon. The natives have an unaccountable fancy that white men are fond of poultry to an excess, insomuch that whenever they entered a town or village, all the fowls were immediately seized and confined in a place of security until their departure.
Several strangers accompanied them from town to town, for the purpose of evading the duty which is exacted at the turnpike gates, by stating themselves to be of the number of their attendants. Women also placed themselves under the protection of their men from Cape Coast Castle, in order that they might enjoy a similar advantage; in return for this favour, they showed a great willingness to do for them many little kind offices, and they were found particularly useful in making fires, preparing food, &c. for the whole of the party.
Their journey throughout the whole of this day was extremely pleasant. At one time the path ran in a serpentine direction through plains covered with green turf, at another it led them amidst large groves of stately trees, from whose branches a variety of playful chattering monkeys diverted them by their mischievous tricks, and the grey parrot, with its discordant, shrill scream, and other beautiful birds, "warbled their native wood notes wild."
The chief of Chow, who received and entertained Captain Clapperton, had been dead some time, and was succeeded by a humble, good natured, and active individual, who treated the white men more like demi-G.o.ds than human beings. At the time of their arrival, he was engaged in superintending the slaves at his corn and yam plantations, but he hastened to them the moment he was informed of the circ.u.mstance. He possessed a number of horses, one of which was the smallest and most beautiful animal they ever beheld.
In the evening, the chief visited them again with a present of provisions, and a few goora nuts. Richard Lander took the opportunity of playing on a bugle horn in his presence, by which he was violently agitated, under the supposition that the instrument was nothing less than a snake.
For the first time since their landing they observed the loom in active operation; the manufacture of cotton cloth is, however, carried on exclusively by women, the men appearing too slothful and indolent to undertake any labour, which might subject them to fatigue.
On the following day the path wound through a country charmingly diversified by hill and dale, woods and open glades, and watered by streams flowing over beds of fine white sand. A horseman from Katunga met them about ten o"clock in the morning, whose dress and accoutrements were highly grotesque. He neither stopped nor spoke, but couched his lance as he gallopped past them. It was supposed that he was the bearer of a message to the chief of Jenna, from the king of Katunga, and that it had some reference to themselves, but whether it was an act of caution or of compliment could not be ascertained.
They met a number of people of both s.e.xes in the path, who were returning from Egga to Chow, and several naked boys on their way to the coast, under the care of guardians. These were slaves, and would be most likely sold at Badagry. Some of the woman bore burdens on their heads, that would have tired a mule and broken the neck of a Covent Garden Irish woman, and children not more than five or six years old trudged after them with loads that would have given a full grown person in Europe the brain fever.
They departed from Chow before sunrise; a surprising dew had fallen during the night and distilled from the leaves and branches in large drops. They pa.s.sed during the forenoon, over three or four swampy places, covered with reeds, rushes, and rank gra.s.s, which were inhabited by myriads of frogs of prodigious size. On crossing the streams, they were invariably saluted by a loud and unaccountable hissing, as if from a mult.i.tude of serpents. They could not account for this extraordinary noise in any other way, than by supposing it to have proceeded from some species of insects, whose retreats they had invaded.
With very trifling manual labour, the path, which was little better than a mere gutter formed by repeated rains, might be converted into a good and commodious road; and were a tree simply thrown over them, the streams and mora.s.ses might be crossed with ease and safely. But the natives appeared to have no idea whatever of such improvements, and would rather be entangled in thick underwood, and wade through pools of mud and water, than give themselves any trouble about repairing the road. But the native, however, says to himself, and not unjustly, _cui bono?_ neither in England or in Africa are individuals to be found, who will undertake a work of difficulty and fatigue gratuitously, merely for the benefit and accommodation of others; characters of that description are very rarely to be found, and perhaps the interior of Africa is the last place in the world where we should look for them. An Englishman might find it to be his interest to repair the roads on which he is frequently obliged to travel; but what benefit can accrue to the uncivilized African, and particularly the slave, who has not a blade of gra.s.s under the canopy of Heaven, which he can call his own, to trouble himself about the repair of a road, on which he might never have occasion to travel, and which, with the great uncertainty which is always hanging over his future condition in life, he may never fee again. Trees not unfrequently fall across the pathway, but instead of removing them, the people form a large circuit round them, even a small ant hill is an object too mighty to be meddled with, and it is left in the centre of the narrow road, to be jumped over, or to be travelled round, according to the option of the traveller.
Several women, with little wooden figures of children on their heads, pa.s.sed them in the course of the morning; they were mothers, who, having lost a child, carry these rude imitations of them about their persons for an indefinite time, as a symbol of mourning. Not one of them could be induced to part with one of these little affectionate memorials.
They entered Egga, which is a very large town, in the early part of the afternoon. On their arrival, they were introduced into the house occupied by Captain Clapperton on his last journey, in the yard of which, repose the remains of an Englishman, named Dawson, who died here of a fever when that officer pa.s.sed through the country. Both the hut and yard were soon tilled with people, and were in a state of filth, which baffles all description. They could not by any means rid themselves of sheep, goats, and fowls, with their train; in spite of all their attempts to remove them, they were determined to be their companions, and this grievance, added to the tongues of a hundred visitors, made their situation all but intolerable.
Egga is the princ.i.p.al market town in this part of Africa, and is attended by buyers and sellers for many miles round. Women here are the chief, if not the only traders, most of them are of graceful and prepossessing exterior, and they all practise those petty tricks and artifices in their dealings, with which the market women of more civilized countries are not unacquainted.
This day, April 16th, was one of the hottest they ever remember to have felt. They found the path in much better condition, than that on which they had previously travelled, and it lay almost entirely through plantations of yams, calavances and pumpkins, and three or four different varieties of corn, which a number of labourers were employed in weeding, &c. The hoe is the only implement of husbandry in use, and indeed they can well dispense with every other, because the soil, during the rainy months, is so soft and light, that but very little manual exertion in working it is required. Population is abundant, labourers may be hired to any number; and it may be affirmed that he introduction of the plough would scarcely be a blessing, but on the contrary, it would furnish fresh encouragement to the general sin of indolence.
Having crossed at noon a small but agreeable river flowing from east to west, in which several females were bathing and washing clothes, they shortly afterwards entered the capacious and populous town of Jedoo. Here they were informed that the chief had been in the grave more than a twelvemonth; and that no one having yet been nominated to succeed him, every thing continued in a state of confusion and misrule. They were conducted, after having waited a little, into a large yard belonging to the late governor, and in a short time received a visit from his brother, in company with all the elders of the place; their conversation was, however, very unpleasant, and their whole behaviour much cooler than was agreeable, the more so as such a reception had been entirely unexpected.
The yard in which they resided, was perfectly circular, and walled with huts, all tenanted by the late chiefs widows, who employ their time and earn their livelihood by spinning and weaving. Not less than a hundred of the king of Katunga"s ladies were lodging in the yard with them. They had all pa.s.sed the bloom of life, and had lately arrived with loads of trona and country cloth, which they barter for salt, and various articles of European manufacture, particularly beads; with these they return home, and expose them for sale in the market, and afterwards the profits are taken to their husbands. These royal ladies are distinguished from their countrywomen only by a peculiar species of cloth, which is wrapped round their goods, and which no one dared to imitate on pain of perpetual slavery. This severe punishment is often inflicted, for, as the king"s wives pay no tribute or turnpike dues whatever, and must besides be entertained by the chiefs of every town through which they pa.s.s, strong inducements are offered for others to attempt to deceive, by using the forbidden cloth, and hence examples are necessary. As a contrast to the afflicted females of Jenna, the wives of the king of Katunga all fell to crying for joy this evening, on recognizing a few old acquaintance in the yard, who soon joined them in the melancholy music. It was highly ridiculous to see them, for after the first burst had subsided, they began to chat with a garrulity far beyond that of the most talkative of their European sisters. The conversation lasted more than an hour, till at last it resolved itself into a violent quarrel, which lasted during the remainder of the day.
It was now ten o"clock, and the women were still sitting in groups round the several wood fires. The travellers themselves only occupied a small verandah, which was simply the projection of the roof of a thatched hut. Their horses were fastened to wooden stakes in the centre of the yard; their men were lying round them, warming themselves at their own fires. Sheep, beautiful sheep with tinkling bells hung round their necks, were chewing the cud in peace and happiness. But notwithstanding it was the hour of repose, the tongues of the female travellers were making a clatter which all the women of Billingsgate could not rival, and together with the squalling of brats innumerable, completely spoiled the emotions, which the wild and pleasing scene around them would otherwise have awakened in their b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The sheep here are regarded with as much partiality, and treated much in the same manner as ladies lap dogs are in England.
Great care is taken to keep them clean and in good condition; they are washed every morning in soap and water; and so greatly are they attached to their masters or mistresses, that they are constantly at their meals, following them in doors and out, from town to town, and in all their peregrinations. Goats, sheep, swine and poultry are in great plenty here, and in the possession of every one, notwithstanding which they are always excessively dear, because the people take a pride in displaying the number and quality of their domesticated animals.
The inhabitants of Jeado are in general very decently dressed in cotton dresses of their own manufacture. In their persons, they are much more agreeable, than those who reside near the sea. European goods are brought hither from Dahomey and Badagry, but more especially from Lagos, and are daily exposed for sale in the markets of Jadoo and Egga. Several chiefs on the road, questioned the travellers to account to them for the Portuguese not purchasing so many slaves as formerly, and they made very sad complaints of the stagnation of that branch of traffic. It would perhaps have been as much as their heads were worth, to have told them the true reason.
Hippopotami abound in the rivers in the vicinity of the town, when young, the flesh and skin of these animals are sold as food, and whips and other articles are made of the skins of the old ones. At the usual hour of the following day, April 17th, they quitted Jadoo, and in the middle of the day arrived at a clean, pretty little village, called Pooya. The appearance of the country between these places is extremely fine, resembling a magnificent orchard. On their way they met several hundreds of people of both s.e.xes and all ages, with a great number of bullocks, sheep, and goats, together with fowls and pigeons, which were carried on the head in neat wicker baskets. Several of the travellers were loaded with country cloth, and indigo in large round b.a.l.l.s. They were all slaves, and were proceeding to the coast from the interior, to sell the goods and animals under their charge. One old woman had the misfortune to let a large calabash of palm oil fall from her head: on arriving at the spot, they found a party of females, her companions in slavery, wringing their hands and crying. The affliction of the old woman was bitter indeed, as she dreaded the punishment which awaited her on her return to the house of her master. John Lander compa.s.sionated her distress, and gave her a large clasp knife, which would more than recompense her for the loss of the oil, on which the women wiped away their tears, and fell down on the dust before them, exhibiting countenances more gladsome and animated than could be conceived.
The mortality of children must be immense indeed here, for almost every woman they met with on the road, had one or more of those little wooden images, already mentioned. Wherever the mothers stopped to take refreshment, a small part of their food was invariably presented to the lips of these inanimate memorials. The daughters of civilization may boast of the refinement of their feelings, but under what circ.u.mstances did they ever exhibit a stronger instance of maternal affection than these rude, untutored mothers of interior Africa evinced to our travellers. The English mother will frequently deposit her child in the grave, and a few days afterwards will be seen joining in all the pleasures and vanities of the world. Whirled about in a vortex of dissipation, the mother of civilization bears no memorial about her of the infant that is in its grave; but the uncivilized African carries about with her the image of her child, and, in the full force of her maternal affection, feeds not herself until in her imagination she has fed the being who once was dear to her. There was something beautifully affectionate in the mother offering the food to the images of her children, and had a whole volume been written in display of the African female character, a more forcible ill.u.s.tration could not have been given of it.
Although Pooya is considered by the natives to be a day"s journey from Jadoo, they only halted to pay their respects to the chief, and then continued their journey over gentle hills, and through valleys watered by streams and rivulets, so as to reach Engua in the afternoon. The soil between the two towns is mostly dry and sterile, and large ma.s.ses of ironstone, which looked as if they had undergone the action of fire, presented themselves almost at every step. The day was oppressively hot, and as they had been exposed to the sun for a great number of hours, when they reached Engua, their skin was scorched and highly inflamed, which proved very painful to them.
Richard Lander was comparatively inured to the climate, but his brother now begun to feel it severely, he was sore, tired, and feverish, and longed to be down in a hut, but they were obliged to remain under a tree for three hours, before they could be favoured with that opportunity, because the chief of that town was engaged in making a fetish, for the purpose of counteracting any evil intentions that the white men might entertain towards him. All their people were fatigued and exhausted on the road, complaining much of the heat, and one of them was brought to them in the evening in a high fever. Engua is the town where the lamented Captain Pearce breathed his last, and here also Captain Clapperton felt quite disheartened, and almost despaired of penetrating further into the interior of the country.
The chief sent them only a little Indian corn and water, and obstinately refused to sell them either a goat, sheep, or any other animal, although there were many thousands in the town.
Their reception at Engua was so truly inhospitable, that they arose at a much earlier hour than they generally did, and proceeded on their way by starlight. In place of the ironstone which they had observed on the preceding day, the country was now partially covered with large and unshapely ma.s.ses of granite. Mountains and elevated hills were observed to the right of them, the sides of which were thickly wooded, and their summits reaching above the clouds. At nine o"clock, they pa.s.sed through a neat and cleanly village named Chakka, which had lately lost its chief, and an hour afterwards crossed a small river called Akeeney, which was full of sharp and rugged rocks, and is reported to fall into the Lagos. They were carried over on men"s shoulders without much difficulty, but the horses were a long time in getting across. Hence the path winded up a high and steep hill, which they ascended, and entered the town of Afoora about mid-day. The governor gave them a hearty welcome, and said it made him so extremely happy to see them, which was also expressed by the joy and animation of his countenance. The best hut in the town, which was the most airy and commodious of any they had seen, was presently got ready for them, and shortly after they had taken possession of it, they received a quant.i.ty of excellent provisions from the chief.
This was the first day of his government; his father, the late chief, had been dead some time, but from motives of delicacy he refused to take upon himself his authority until this morning. In honour of the event, a large company of women were dancing, rejoicing, and making merry all the evening, outside their hut. It appeared as rather a strange circ.u.mstance to Richard Lander, that the chief or governor of almost every town through which they had pa.s.sed since leaving Badagry, who was alive and well on his return to the coast three years ago, had been either slain in war or had died from natural causes. Scarcely one of them was alive on his present expedition.
On April 19th, an easy pleasant ride of three hours brought them to the first walled town they had seen, which was called a.s.sinara. The wall was of clay and so diminutive, that a person might easily jump over it; a dry ditch about eighteen inches deep, and three or four feet in width also surrounds the town. Over this a single plank is thrown, which answers the purpose of a draw-bridge, and is the only means the inhabitants have of getting in and out of the place.
a.s.sinara had also lately lost its chief in some battle, and all business was transacted by a benevolent elderly man, who volunteered his services till a successor should be appointed. From him the Landers received the warmest reception, and the most hospitable treatment.
The climate now began to have a most debilitating effect upon John Lander, and from a state of robust health and vigour, he was now reduced to so great a degree of la.s.situde and weakness, that he could scarcely stand a minute at a time. Every former pleasure seemed to have lost its charm with him. He was on this day attacked with fever, and his condition would have been hopeless indeed, had his brother not been near to relieve him. He complained of excessive thirst. Ten grains of calomel were administered to him, and afterwards a strong dose of salts. On the following day, April 20th, he was much better and free from fever, but too weak to travel, their stay, therefore, at a.s.sinara was unavoidably protracted.
The acting governor visited them with a very long face, and entreated the Landers to discover a certain wizard, whom he imagined to be concealed somewhere in the town. By the influence of this sorcerer, a number of people, it was said, pined away and died, and women with child were more especially the object of his malevolence. These victims dropped down suddenly, without the slightest warning, and the deaths had lately been so numerous, that the old man himself was grievously alarmed, and begged a charm to preserve him and his family.
On the 23rd, John Lander finding himself considerably invigorated and refreshed by a day"s rest at a.s.sinara, and sufficiently recovered to pursue their journey, all hands were in readiness to start at an early hour. The morning was cool and pleasant, and they travelled onwards in excellent spirits. Without meeting any thing particular in the path, or perceiving any object sufficiently interesting or novel to demand attention, they entered the town of Accadoo in the forenoon, having had an agreeable ride of a few hours duration only.
At this time John Lander seemed to be free from any kind of complaint whatever, and enjoyed an unusual cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirits, which led his brother to form the most flattering antic.i.p.ations. In the course of a few minutes, however, his body was overspread with a burning heat, and he suffered under another attack of fever, more violent than any of the former. He resorted to the most powerful remedies, he could think of at the time. His brother bled him, and applied a strong blister to the region of the stomach, where the disorder seemed to be seated. It was swollen and oppressed with pain, and he felt as if some huge substance lay upon his chest.
His mouth being dry and clogged, and his thirst burning and unquenchable, he drank so much water that his body was greatly swollen. Towards evening, his ideas became confused and he grew delirious. He afterwards described to his brother the horrible phantoms that disturbed him whilst in this state, and the delicious emotion that ran through his whole frame, when the dreadful vision had pa.s.sed away. Tears gushed from his eyes, a profuse perspiration, which had been so long checked, gave him immediate relief, and from that moment his health began to improve.
During this illness of John Lander, the natives made a most hideous noise by singing and drumming on the celebration of their fetish.
Richard went out with the hope of inducing them to be quiet, but they only laughed at him, and annoyed them the more; having no compa.s.sion whatever for the sufferings of a white man, and if they can mortify him by any means, they consider it a praiseworthy deed. This day at noon, the sun stood at 99 degrees of Fahrenheit.
Early on Sat.u.r.day the 24th, a hammock was prepared for John Lander, he being too weak to ride on horseback; and shortly wards they quitted the town of Accadoo, in much better spirits, than circ.u.mstances had led them to expect. The hammock-men found their burden rather troublesome, nevertheless they travelled at a pretty quick pace, and between eight and nine o"clock, halted at a pleasant and comfortable village called Etudy. The chief sent them a fowl and four hundred kowries; but they stopped only to take a slight refreshment, and to pay their respects. They then proceeded through large plantations of cotton, indigo, Indian corn, and yams, and over stony fields, till between ten and eleven, when they entered the town of Chouchou. They were almost immediately introduced to the chief, and from him into a ruinous hut, in a more filthy state than can be imagined. No pigstye was ever half so bad. Its late occupier had incurred the displeasure and hatred of the chief, because he happened to be very rich, and rather than pay a heavy fine, he ran away and joined his former enemies, and this partly accounted for the dest.i.tution and wretchedness around them.
Since leaving Jenna they met an incredible number of persons visited with the loss of one eye. They a.s.signed no other reason for their misfortune, than the heat and glare of the rays of the sun.
During the whole of this night it rained most heavily; but their hut, although of the very worst description, had a pretty good thatched roof, and sheltered them better than they could have expected. There are seasons and periods in our life-time, in which we feel a happy complacency of temper and an inward satisfaction, cheerfulness, and joy, for which we cannot very well account, but which constrain us to be at peace with ourselves and our neighbours, and in love with all the works of G.o.d. In this truly enviable frame of mind, Richard Lander says he awoke on this morning, to proceed onwards on horseback. It was a morning, which was fairly ent.i.tled to the epithet of incense breathing; for the variety of sweet-smelling perfumes, which exhaled after the rain, from forest flowers and flowering shrubs, was delicious and almost overpowering. The scenery which gratified their eyes on this day, was more interesting and lovely, than any they had heretofore beheld. The path circled round a magnificent, cultivated valley, hemmed in on almost every side with mountains of granite of the most grotesque and irregular shapes, the summits of which were covered with stunted trees, and the hollows in their slopes occupied by cl.u.s.ters of huts, whose inmates had fled thither as a place of security against the ravages of the _warmen_ who infest the plains. A number of strange birds resorted to this valley, many of whose notes were rich, full, and melodious, while others were harsh and disagreeable, but, generally speaking, the plumage was various, splendid, and beautiful. The modest partridge appeared in company with the magnificent balearic crane, with his regal crest, and delicate humming birds hopped from twig to twig, with others of an unknown species; some of them were of a dark, shining green; some had red silky wings and purple bodies; some were variegated with stripes of crimson and gold, and these chirped and warbled from among the thick foliage of the trees. In the contemplation of such beautiful objects as these, all so playful and so happy, or the more sublime ones of dark waving forests, plains of vast extent, or stupendous mountains, that gave the mind the most sensible emotions of delight and grandeur, leading it insensibly
"To look from nature up to nature"s G.o.d."
Speaking on these subjects, Lander very feelingly expresses himself, "For myself," he says, "I am pa.s.sionately fond of them, and have regretted a thousand times, that my ignorance incapacitated me from giving a proper representation of them, or describing the simplest flower that adorns the plains, or the smallest insect that sparkles in the air. This consideration gives me at times many unhappy reflections, although my defective education arose from circ.u.mstances over which my boyhood had no control."