Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/212

184 met with very large canoes having a hut in the middle, which contained merchants and their whole families. At the island of Madjie, where we were obliged to stop for canoe-men, we found trees of hungry growth and stunted shrubs, whose foliage seemed for the most part dull and withering: they shoot out of the hollows and interstices of rocks, and hang over immense precipices, whose jagged summits they partly conceal; they are only accessible to wild beasts and birds of prey. The river below Madjie takes a turn to the east by the side of another range of hills, and afterwards flows for a number of miles a little to the southward of east. On leaving the island, we journeyed very rapidly down the current for a few minutes, when, having passed another, we came suddenly in sight of an elevated rocky hill, called Mount Kēsey by the natives. This small island, apparently not less than 300 feet in height, and very steep, is an object of superstitious veneration amongst the natives.

'The island of Zegozhee, which we reached on the 7th of October, is opposite to Rabba, and so low, that the houses and trees appeared to be springing from the water. Rabba, which is two miles from this island, appears to be a large, populous, and flourishing town: it is built on the slope of a gentle hill, almost entirely destitute of trees. The Quorra, both yesterday and to-day, has flowed in a direction to the south of east. Rabba market is very celebrated, and considered by traders as one of the largest and best in the whole country, of which it may be styled the emporium. A variety of articles, both of native and foreign manufacture, are sold there; and it is generally well supplied with slaves of both sexes. Yesterday one of our men counted between 100 and 200 men, women, and children, exposed for sale in ranks. These poor creatures have for the most part been captured in war; and it is said the Falatahs rarely treat them with unkindness, and never with brutality. The price of a healthy, strong lad is about 40,000 cowries (8l. sterling); a girl fetches as much as 50,000, and perhaps more, if she be at all good-looking; and the value of men and women varies according to their age and abilities. Slaves are sometimes purchased at Rabba by people inhabiting a country situated a good way down the Quorra; and from thence they are delivered from hand to hand, till they at length reach the sea. Ivory is also sold here, and large tusks may be had at 1000 cowries each, and sometimes cheaper. We had eleven elephants' tusks of our own, which were presented to us by the Kings of Wouwou and Boossà, but we were unable to dispose of them at Rabba, because no strangers were then in the city.

'On leaving Rabba, we made no stop down the river all day,