Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
During these transactions, Daisy was employed in fortifying Gedingooma: this town is built in a narrow pass between two high hills, having only two gates, one towards Kaarta and the other towards Jaffnoo: the gate towards Kaarta was defended by Daisy in person; and that towards Jaffnoo was committed to the charge of his sons.
Having felt the want of regal protection in a former part of my journey, I was unwilling to hazard a repetition of the hardships I had then experienced, especially as the money I had received was probably the last supply that I should obtain. I therefore determined to wait for the return of the messengers from Kaarta.
We travelled with great difficulty down a stony and abrupt precipice, and continued our way in the bed of a dry river course, where the trees, meeting overhead, made the place dark and cool. In a little time we reached the bottom of this romantic glen, and about ten o'clock emerged from between two rocky hills, and found ourselves on the level and sandy plains of Kaarta.
The king replied, that he could at present afford him but little assistance, all communication between Kaarta and Bambarra being cut off; and Monsong, king of Bambarra, with his army on his march to Kaarta, there was little hope of reaching Bambarra by the direct route, for coming from an enemy's country, he would certainly be plundered or taken for a spy.
Finding that I was determined to proceed, the king told me that one route still remained, but that, he said, was by no means free from danger which was to go from Kaarta into the Moorish kingdom of Ludamar, from whence I might pass by a circuitous route into Bambarra. If I wished to follow this route he would appoint people to conduct me to Jarra, the frontier town of Ludamar.
Thus the war between Kajaaga and Kasson was occasioned by the detention of a fugitive slave; that between Bambarra and Kaarta by the loss of a few cattle. Other cases of the same nature perpetually occur in which the folly or mad ambition of their princes and the zeal of their religious enthusiasts give full employment to the scythe of desolation.
Three more of these slaves were from Kaarta, and one from Wassela, all of them prisoners of war. They stopped four days at Kamalia, and were then taken to Bala, where they remained until the river Kokoro was fordable, and the grass burnt.
A number of runaway slaves arrived from Kaarta on the 14th, and reported that Daisy, having received information concerning the intended attack upon him, was about to visit Jarra. This made the Negroes call upon Ali for the two hundred horsemen, which he was to furnish them, according to engagement.
He informed me that he had seen Major Houghton, and presented him with a white horse; but that, after crossing the kingdom of Kaarta, he had lost his life among the Moors, in what manner he could not inform me.
On the 8th of February they travelled over a rough stony country, and, having passed a number of villages, arrived at Lackarago, a small village standing upon the ridge of hills that separates Kasson from Kaarta. The following morning they left Lackarago, and soon perceived, towards the south-east, the mountains of Fooladoo.
Word Of The Day