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Richard and John Lander into the interior of Africa, for the discovery of the course and termination of the Niger: From unpublished documents in the possession of the late Capt.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Richard and John Lander into the interior of Africa, for the discovery of the course and termination of the Niger: From unpublished documents in the possession of the late Capt.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
The funeral of their chiefs is a ceremony of great solemnity, and in
some of its forms has a strong resemblance to an Irish wake. Flowers
of the most odorous scent are buried with the corpse, which is also
supplied with a considerable quantity of gold, to assist him on his
entrance into the other world, where it is believed, that the degree
of happiness, is proportionate to the quantity of gold which the
deceased has in his possession. It must, however, be mentioned, that
the natives of this part of Africa, appear to be wholly exempt from
the stigma, which belongs to some of the other tribes of Africa,
in the human victims which are sacrificed at the funerals of their
kings or chiefs, and which in some cases amount to three or four
hundred. The funerals of the kings of Tenda are conducted with a
decorum highly creditable to the people, considering their
uncivilised state; and the graves are frequently visited by the
relatives of the deceased, to repair any injury, which they may have
sustained from the violence of the rains, or the attacks of
carnivorous animals.
At all the festivals, a personage called Horey, or which Jobson calls
the devil, acts a most conspicuous part, at the same time, that he
generally carries on his operations in secret, impressing thereby on
the minds of the natives, an idea of his invisibility. The Horey
generally takes his station in the adjoining woods, whence he sends
forth the most tremendous sounds, supposed to have a very malignant
influence on all those who happen to be within hearing. It is,
however, a fortunate circumstance for the native, who is so
unfortunate as to be within hearing of the Horey's cries, that the
method is known, of appeasing the vindictive spirit of the Horey,
which is, by placing a quantity of provisions, in the immediate
vicinity of the place where his roaring is heard; and if on the
following day the provisions have disappeared, which is sure to be
the case, the natives are then satisfied that the Horey has been
appeased, which, however, lasts only for a short time, for as the
appetite of the Horey is certain to return, his cries are again
heard, and the provisions are again deposited for his satisfaction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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