The Jolloffs have a curious burial custom. The body of the deceased
is laid out in the inclosure, or yard, which surrounds every Jolloff
house, where the ladies of the family prepare the kous-kous, and their
lord and master prays at morning and evening; and, when it is about to
be carried out for sepulture, the funeral party, instead of taking it
through the gate, proceed to demolish the whole fence. They consider
that it would be fatal to the deceased’s hopes of future bliss if his
body passed through any gate before he crossed the bridge of Al Sirat
and knocked at the door of paradise. Expectoration seems to be the
commonest form in which grief is exhibited by Jolloffs. Of course the
men never show even this sign of weakness; but the women at funeral
customs, or when they are grieved about anything, fill up the pauses of
their dirge, or complaint, with vigorous discharges of saliva. Any fly
within a radius of ten feet has but small chance of escape.
The Jolloff country extends from the Gambia to the French possessions
on the Senegal river, and is divided into three independent kingdoms,
viz. Senaar or Senegal, Saulaem, and Ballah. A late king of Senaar,
Jumail by name, was a source of considerable anxiety to the French, and
kept up a standing army of ten or twelve thousand cavalry, with which
he made frequent raids on the settlements. The religion of these people
is purely Mohammedan.
During one of my visits to the Gambia I crossed the river to look at
the country of the “ceded mile,” opposite Bathurst. At the extremity of
a promontory, where the visitor is usually landed, are the remains of
a small fort, called Fort Bullen, which has fallen into disuse since
the withdrawal of the troops; and from the summit of its walls one can
enjoy the pleasing prospect of miles upon miles of dwarf mangrove,
bounded on the horizon inland by a mass of tall cocoanut palms and
silk-cotton trees. To the east of the ceded mile lies the Mandingo
state of Barra, and to the west the country of the Shirirees, who are
idolaters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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