Great African Travellers | Page 4

The king having provided a guide, Park took his departure, reaching
Konjowar the next night. Here, having purchased a sheep, he found
Johnson and one of his negroes quarrelling about the horns. It appeals
that these horns are highly valued as being easily converted into
sheaths for keeping secure certain charms, called saphies. These
saphies are sentences from the Koran, which the Mahommedan priests
write on scraps of paper and sell to the natives, who believe that they
possess extraordinary virtues. They indeed consider the art of writing as
bordering on magic; and it is not in the doctrines of the Prophet, but in
the arts of the magician that their confidence is placed.
On the 8th, entering Koloa, a considerable town, he observed hanging
on a tree a masquerading habit, made of bark, which he was told
belonged to Mumbo Jumbo, a sort of wood demon, held greatly in awe,
especially by the female part of the community. This strange bugbear is
common to all the Mandingo towns, and much employed by the pagan
negroes in keeping their women in subjection. As the Kaffirs, or pagan
Africans, are not restricted in the number of their wives, every one
marries as many as he can conveniently maintain; and it frequently
happens that the ladies disagree among themselves, their quarrels
sometimes reaching to such a height that the authority of the husband
can no longer preserve peace in his household,--in such cases the
interposition of Mumbo Jumbo is called in and is always decisive. This
strange minister of justice, who is supposed to be either the husband or
some person instructed by him, disguised in the dress which has just
been mentioned, and armed with the rod of public authority, announces
his coming by loud and dismal screams in the woods near the town.
He begins the pantomime at the approach of night, and as soon as it is

dark he enters the town and proceeds to the bentang, or public
meeting-house, at which all the inhabitants immediately assemble. The
women do not especially relish this exhibition; for, as the person in
disguise is entirely unknown to them, every married female suspects
that the visit may possibly be intended for her; but they dare not refuse
to appear when summoned.
The ceremony commences with songs and dances, which continue till
midnight, about which time Mumbo fixes on the offender. The
unfortunate victim being thereupon immediately seized, is stripped
naked, tied to a post, and receives a severe switching with Mumbo's rod,
amidst the derisive shouts of the whole assembly, the rest of the women
being the loudest in their exclamations against their unhappy sister.
Daylight puts an end to the unmanly revel.
The desert was now to be passed, in which no water was to be procured.
The caravan therefore travelled rapidly till they arrived at Koojar, the
frontier town of Woolli, on the road to Bondou, from which it is
separated by another intervening wilderness of two days' journey.
While crossing the desert, they came to a tree, adorned with scraps of
cloth, probably at first hung up to inform other travellers that water was
to be found near it; but the custom has been so sanctioned by time that
nobody presumes to pass without hanging up something. Park followed
the example and suspended a handsome piece of cloth on one of the
boughs. Finding, however, a fire, which the negroes thought had been
made by banditti, they pushed on to another watering-place, where,
surrounded by their cattle, they lay down on the bare ground, out of
gun-shot from the nearest bush, the negroes agreeing to keep watch by
turns, to prevent surprise.
They soon after reached Koorkarany, a Mahommedan town, which
contained a mosque, and was surrounded by a high wall. The maraboo,
or priest, a black, showed Park a number of Arabic manuscripts,
passages from which he read and explained in Mandingo.
Moving on at noon of the 21st of December, the traveller...

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His fellow-travellers considered it necessary to journey by night till
they could reach a more hospitable part of the country. They
accordingly started as soon as the people in the village had gone to
sleep. The stillness of the air, the howling of the wild beasts and the
deep solitude of the forest made the scene solemn and impressive. Not
a word, except in a whisper, was uttered; and his companions pointed
out to him the wolves and hyaenas, as they glided like shadows from
one thicket to another.
The inhabitants of Bondou are called Foulahs. They are naturally of a
mild and gentle disposition; but the uncharitable maxims of the Koran
have made them less hospitable to strangers and more