We presently took the hint, and would not say we could not do it, but
let them know, the men that were killed were those that had first fallen
upon us, and provoked us, and we would by no means make them alive
again; and that, if any others did so, we would kill them too, and never
let them live any more: but that, if he (the prince) would be willing
to go with us, and do as we should direct him, we would not let him die,
and would make his arm well. Upon this he bid his men go and fetch a
long stick or staff, and lay on the ground. When they brought it, we saw
it was an arrow; he took it with his left hand (for his other was lame
with the wound), and, pointing up at the sun, broke the arrow in two,
and set the point against his breast, and then gave it to me. This was,
as I understood afterwards, wishing the sun, whom they worship, might
shoot him into the breast with an arrow, if ever he failed to be my
friend; and giving the point of the arrow to me was to be a testimony
that I was the man he had sworn to: and never was Christian more
punctual to an oath than he was to this, for he was a sworn servant to
us for many a weary month after that.
When I brought him to the surgeon, he immediately dressed the wound in
his haunch or buttock, and found the bullet had only grazed upon the
flesh, and passed, as it were, by it, but it was not lodged in the part,
so that it was soon healed and well again; but, as to his arm, he found
one of the bones broken, which are in the fore-part from the wrist to
the elbow; and this he set, and splintered it up, and bound his arm in a
sling, hanging it about his neck, and making signs to him that he should
not stir it; which he was so strict an observer of, that he set him
down, and never moved one way or other but as the surgeon gave him
leave.
I took a great deal of pains to acquaint this negro what we intended
to do, and what use we intended to make of his men; and particularly
to teach him the meaning of what we said, especially to teach him some
words, such as yes and no, and what they meant, and to inure him to
our way of talking; and he was very willing and apt to learn anything I
taught him.
It was easy to let him see that we intended to carry our provision with
us from the first day; but he made signs to us to tell us we need not,
for we should find provision enough everywhere for forty days. It was
very difficult for us to understand how he expressed forty; for he
knew no figures, but some words that they used to one another that they
understood it by. At last one of the negroes, by his order, laid forty
little stones one by another, to show us how many days we should travel,
and find provisions sufficient.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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