Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 25, 2025
They were but badly armed: twenty-two with muskets, forty or fifty with bows and arrows; and nearly the same number of men and boys with spears only: they arranged themselves before the tent, where they waited until their arms were examined and some little disputes settled. About midnight on the 16th, Ali departed quietly from Benowm, accompanied by a few attendants.
A messenger was dispatched to Ali, who at this time was encamped near Benowm; and as a present was necessary in order to insure success, I sent him five garments of cotton cloth, which I purchased of Daman for one of my fowling-pieces.
In the midst of this harmless festivity, I flattered myself that all danger from the Moors was over. Fancy had already placed me on the banks of the Niger, and presented to my imagination a thousand delightful scenes in my future progress, when a party of Moors unexpectedly entered the hut, and dispelled the golden dream. They came, they said, by Ali's orders, to convey me to his camp at Benowm.
Is conveyed a prisoner to the Moorish camp at Benowm, on the borders of the Great Desert. The town of Jarra is of considerable extent; the houses are built of clay and stone intermixed; the clay answering the purpose of mortar.
Things were in this situation when, on the 29th of April, a messenger arrived at Benowm, with the disagreeable intelligence that the Bambarra army was approaching the frontiers of Ludamar. This threw the whole country into confusion; and in the afternoon Ali's son, with about twenty horsemen, arrived at Benowm.
Their chief commerce of this kind is with the French traders on the Senegal river. The Moors are rigid Mahomedans, and possess, with the bigotry and superstition, all the intolerance of their sect. They have no mosques at Benowm, but perform their devotions in a sort of open shed or inclosure made of mats. The priest is at the same time schoolmaster to the juniors.
But our water being expended, we could not prudently remain longer than a few minutes to collect a little gum, which is an excellent succedaneum for water, as it keeps the mouth moist, and allays for a time the pain in the throat. About five o'clock we came in sight of Benowm, the residence of Ali.
In adventures of this nature, I passed the sultry month of May, during which no material change took place in my situation. Ali still considered me as a lawful prisoner; and Fatima, though she allowed me a larger quantity of victuals than I had been accustomed to receive at Benowm, had as yet said nothing on the subject of my release.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking