Travels of Richard and John Lander into the interior of Africa, for the discovery of the course and termination of the Niger: From unpublished documents in the possession of the late Capt. John William Barber Fullerton ... with a prefatory analysis of the previous travels of Park, Denham, Clapperton, Adams, Lyon, Ritchie, &c. into the hitherto unexplored countries of AfricaHuish, Robert
History
Travels of Richard and John Lander into the interior of Africa, for the discovery of the course and termination of the Niger: From unpublished documents in the possession of the late Capt. John William Barber Fullerton ... with a prefatory analysis of the previous travels of Park, Denham, Clapperton, Adams, Lyon, Ritchie, &c. into the hitherto unexplored countries of Africa
Huish, Robert
Africa, West -- Discovery and exploration; Lander, John, 1807-1839; Lander, Richard, 1804-1834; Niger River
As the Moors were constantly urging them to become Mahommedans, and
they were unceasingly treated with the greatest brutality, the
fortitude of Williams and Davison being exhausted, they at last
unhappily consented to renounce their religion, and were circumcised;
by this means they obtained their liberty, after which they were
presented with a horse, a musket, and a blanket each, and permitted
to marry; no Christian being allowed, at any place inhabited by
Moors, to take a wife, or to cohabit with a moorish woman.
As Adams was now the only remaining Christian at Wadinoon, he became
in a more especial manner an object of the derision and persecution
of the Moors, who were constantly upbraiding and reviling him, and
telling him that his soul would be lost, unless he became a
Mahommedan, insomuch that his life was becoming intolerable.
Mr. Dupuis, speaking of the conduct which Adams received from the
Moors, says, "I can easily believe Adams' statement of the brutal
treatment he experienced at Wadinoon. It is consistent with the
accounts I have always heard of the people of that country, who I
believe to be more bigoted and cruel than even the remoter
inhabitants of the desert. In the frequent instances which have come
under my observation, the general effect of the treatment of the
Arabs on the minds of the Christian captives, has been most
deplorable. On the first arrival of these unfortunate men at
Mogadore, if they have been any considerable time in slavery, they
appear lost to reason and feeling, their spirits broken, and their
whole faculties sunk in a species of stupor, which I am unable
adequately to describe. Habited like the meanest Arabs of the desert,
they appear degraded even below the negro slave. The succession of
hardships, which they endure, from the caprice and tyranny of their
purchasers, without any protecting law to which they can appeal for
alleviation or redress, seems to destroy every spring of exertion or
hope in their minds; they appear indifferent to every thing around
them; abject, servile, and brutified."
"Adams alone was, in some respects, an exception from this
description. I do not recollect any ransomed Christian slave, who
discovered a greater elasticity of spirit, or who sooner recovered
from the indifference and stupor here described."
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