Travels in the Interior of Africa — Volume 01Park, Mungo
History
Travels in the Interior of Africa — Volume 01
Park, Mungo
Africa -- Discovery and exploration; Niger River
The third day after his son’s departure, Tiggity Sego held a palaver on a
very extraordinary occasion, which I attended; and the debates on both
sides of the question displayed much ingenuity. The case was this:—A
young man, a kafir of considerable affluence, who had recently married a
young and handsome wife, applied to a very devout bushreen, or Mussulman
priest, of his acquaintance, to procure him saphies for his protection
during the approaching war. The bushreen complied with the request; and
in order, as he pretended, to render the saphies more efficacious,
enjoined the young man to avoid any nuptial intercourse with his bride
for the space of six weeks. Severe as the injunction was, the kafir
strictly obeyed; and, without telling his wife the real cause, absented
himself from her company. In the meantime, it began to be whispered at
Teesee that the bushreen, who always performed his evening devotions at
the door of the kafir’s hut, was more intimate with the young wife than
he ought to be. At first the good husband was unwilling to suspect the
honour of his sanctified friend, and one whole month elapsed before any
jealousy rose in his mind, but hearing the charge repeated, he at last
interrogated his wife on the subject, who frankly confessed that the
bushreen had seduced her. Hereupon the kafir put her into confinement,
and called a palaver upon the bushreen’s conduct. The fact was clearly
proved against him; and he was sentenced to be sold into slavery, or to
find two slaves for his redemption, according to the pleasure of the
complainant. The injured husband, however, was unwilling to proceed
against his friend to such extremity, and desired rather to have him
publicly flogged before Tiggity Sego’s gate. This was agreed to, and the
sentence was immediately executed. The culprit was tied by the hands to
a strong stake; and a long black rod being brought forth, the
executioner, after flourishing it round his head for some time, applied
it with such force and dexterity to the bushreen’s back as to make him
roar until the woods resounded with his screams. The surrounding
multitude, by their hooting and laughing, manifested how much they
enjoyed the punishment of this old gallant; and it is worthy of remark
that the number of stripes was precisely the same as are enjoined by the
Mosaic law, _forty_, _save one_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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