We kept at a distance from them, not to be too familiar; and when we did
appear it was but two or three of us at a time. But our prisoners
made them understand that we required some provisions of them; so
they brought us some black cattle, for they have abundance of cows and
buffaloes all over that side of the country, as also great numbers of
deer. Our cutler, who had now a great stock of things of his handiwork,
gave them some little knick-knacks, as plates of silver and of iron,
cut diamond fashion, and cut into hearts and into rings, and they were
mightily pleased. They also brought several fruits and roots, which we
did not understand, but our negroes fed heartily on them, and after we
had seen them eat them, we did so too.
Having stocked ourselves here with flesh and root as much as we could
well carry, we divided the burthens among our negroes, appointing about
thirty to forty pounds weight to a man, which we thought indeed was load
enough in a hot country; and the negroes did not at all repine at it,
but would sometimes help one another when they began to be weary, which
did happen now and then, though not often; besides, as most of their
luggage was our provision, it lightened every day, like Aesop's basket
of bread, till we came to get a recruit.--Note, when we loaded them we
untied their hands, and tied them two and two together by one foot.
The third day of our march from this place our chief carpenter desired
us to halt, and set up some huts, for he had found out some trees that
he liked, and resolved to make us some canoes; for, as he told me, he
knew we should have marching enough on foot after we left the river, and
he was resolved to go no farther by land than needs must.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account