A voyage to Senegal : $b or, Historical, philosophical, and political memoirs, relative to the discoveries, establishments and commerce of Europeans in the Atlantic Ocean, from Cape Blanco to the river of Sierra LeoneDurand, Jean Baptiste Léonard
History
A voyage to Senegal : $b or, Historical, philosophical, and political memoirs, relative to the discoveries, establishments and commerce of Europeans in the Atlantic Ocean, from Cape Blanco to the river of Sierra Leone
Durand, Jean Baptiste Léonard
Africa, Northwest; Senegal -- Description and travel
On the 5th of February, at four in the morning, after a journey of
two hours, Rubault entered the kingdom of Youly, and arrived at
noon at the village of Cambia, the whole of which was surrounded
with a palisade ten feet in height. Here the master gave him a
good dinner, and in two hours afterwards, he reached the village
of Lamcemo, where he passed the night. The next day at dawn, as
he was about to proceed on his journey, an envoy arrived from the
king of Youly, requesting he would visit his majesty at Medine, the
place of his residence. Rubault answered that, although he had the
greatest desire to see his majesty, circumstances would not permit
him, as he was in haste to get to Galam; besides which, he had no
merchandize left worthy of the acceptance of so great a personage.
The envoy, who seemed to attach more importance to the present
than the visit, answered shortly, that this was an unsatisfactory
excuse, as the camels which he saw were loaded with property. It
was in vain that our traveller assured him of his mistake, and he
insisted on inspecting our baggage. Being then convinced, he said,
that his master had been imposed upon by false reports, and he would
set him right. He then suffered the party to proceed, and accepted
the blade of a sabre.
The kingdom of Youly is very mountainous, and the hills are covered
with fine trees. The villages are situated in the vallies, and the
soil is very fertile. The inhabitants cultivate great quantities
of grain, indigo, tobacco, and cotton.
The town of Medine, which is the capital of the kingdom, is of
a considerable size, and contains about a thousand houses. Its
fortifications are the same as those of the other towns in
Africa. These people, like all the rest, are superstitious; and
though most of them are pagans, they place implicit confidence in
the grisgris or amulets of the Mahometans: the reason is, that they
consider the art of writing as magic; and therefore place more faith
in the talent of a magician, than in the sentences of the prophet.
Mungo Park observed at Kolor, an institution which is worthy of
being known, particularly because Rubault speaks of it in more
succinct terms. They both saw suspended to a tree a kind of masked
habit, which they were told belonged to Monbo-Jombo, a name which
they give to a magistrate peculiar to themselves, and whose office
is very singular. It is formed for the purpose of frightening the
women, and is established in almost all the Mandingo towns. When
a husband thinks he has reason to complain of the conduct of his
wife, he disguises himself, or dresses one of his friends, in this
masked dress; then, armed with a rod, as the sign of his authority,
Monbo Jombo announces his arrival by making terrible cries in the
wood near the towns: these cries are always heard in the evening or
night; and the figure on entering the town repairs to the bentang,
or spot, at which all the inhabitants make a point of assembling.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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