Chapter 6

In the year 1804, the colony of Sierra Leone was attacked by the Native Powers, and a body of blacks to the northward of the Boollam territories was put in motion for the purpose of assisting the other native tribes in overwhelming the white population at Freetown. The King, or Chief of the North, (or, as they call themselves, the Sherbro Boollams,) who has since been known by the name of King George, and through whose territories the hostile tribes must needs pass, being a firm ally of the King of Great Britain, declared that on no account whatever would he permit them to pass through his country to attack a British settlement: and he carried his point so effectually as to render the expedition fruitless. In consequence of the determined and friendly conduct of this Prince, a deputation of whites from Freetown was despatched to him, with an invitation to visit Sierra Leone, which invitation he accepted. While at Freetown, he was crowned with all solemnity by the name of King George. He continued on the most amicable terms with the Government of Sierra Leone until his death, which took place the 19th of May, 1826, at the advanced age, it is said, of upwards of one hundred years, a point which it would be difficult to ascertain accurately, as these people are entirely ignorant of their own ages. Since this period the throne of the Boollams has been vacant; it being now, however, the intention of the people to proceed to the choice of a King, according to their custom; and it being deemed of considerable importance from the vicinity of Boollam to Sierra Leone, that a person should be elected who was known to be friendly to the English settlement, it was determined by his Excellency the Governor that a person should be sent as a commissioner to be present at the election and coronation; whose duty it should be to support the claims and secure the election of a person known to the English by the name of Macaulay Wilson, who, being a near relation of the late King George, and having been educated in England, being also a man of considerable abilities, was deemed in every way worthy of the throne.

The election of Macaulay Wilson having been accomplished, it would then become the duty of the Commissioner, on the part of the English Government to use every means in his power to induce the new King, with the numerous chiefs and head men, to accede to, and sign, a convention, whereby the sovereignty of Boollam was to be ceded to the King of Great Britain, under certain limitations and restrictions specified in the treaty. The attainment of this point, would, of course, be attended with great difficulty; but it had become of the utmost importance for the suppression of the slave trade that the attempt should be made; for slave dealers who were actually carrying on their traffic in Freetown, upon the least alarm, removed to Boollam with their unfortunate victims, and being then out of British territory were in perfect security. The following is Lieutenant Maclean's personal narrative of his mission.

"_Yougroo, Boollam, March 3rd, 1827_.

"I left Freetown tins morning in the Government barge, with Mr. S. (a person appointed to accompany me as interpreter) and arrived in the course of the evening at the Boollam shore. On landing I proceeded to Yougroo, called by the late King, George Town, where I was received by the King _(esse)_, by Dalmahoumedii, a powerful Mandingo chief, with a number of other chiefs, and headmen.

"There was a very good house (constructed after the country fashion) assigned us as a place of residence. After taking possession, I was visited by the different chiefs and head men, who came to pay their respects, or, as they phrase it, to do service to me, as representing the Governor of Sierra Leone. These consisted principally of Boollam chiefs, who had seldom left their own country; and a few, notwithstanding their vicinity to a white colony, who had scarce ever seen a white man before. There were, also, not a few Mandingo chiefs, who had acquired property and influence in Boollam, and which was daily increasing. These Mandingoes are possessed of considerable intelligence and great cunning, by which means, and by the genius of their religion (Mahommedan), they invariably, though gradually, acquire the superiority over the native rulers of those countries in which they choose to settle. In Boollam this was becoming very apparent; and as the Mandingo chiefs are all either covertly or openly, supposed to be engaged in the slave trade, and consequently opposed to the English Government, I was instructed particularly to guard against, and to oppose their interest in the election of the King. Dalmahoumedii, whom I mentioned above, is the principal Mandingo chief in Boollam, and is by far the best informed man that I had seen here. He is even well conversant in European politics. He is a man of large property, and has a town of his own, called Madina, inhabited entirely by Mandingoes.

"For the ground-rent of this town and neighbourhood, he pays a nominal duty to the king of the Boollams, as his superior, although, in fact, his power and influence in the country is nearly equal to the king's own. On the day of my arrival, he sent me, ready cooked, in the European style, an excellent dinner, of which I, of course, could not do less than ask him to partake. Although a Mahommedan, he drank wine freely, in compliment, as he said, to me, although I could perceive that he enjoyed it exceedingly. He told me, in the course of conversation (carried on principally through an interpreter) that he had, at that time, no fewer than 85 wives. His brother, who had died some time previously, left 75 wives, all of whom he was entitled, by the custom of his country, to have married; he told me, however, that he only chose 45 of them, all of whom he wedded in one day. In the evening a number of these ladies favoured us with their company, some of whom were very fine women. They also seemed to drink their wine with great relish.

"Rejoicings commenced at sunset, and continued during the whole night. I had a guard of honour placed over my residence, to prevent intrusion during the night; which, however, I found it impossible to prevent altogether, as during the election and coronation of a king, the laws 'sleep,' nor can any crime, short of murder or an attempt to murder, be punished during that space of time, which generally extends to 14 or 16 days. The natural consequence of this is, that all the most idle and worthless of the neighbouring nations, or tribes, flock to a place where they can practise all manner of crimes with impunity. Many persons, particularly minstrels, or bards, had walked upwards of 400 miles from the interior, to be present at the election about to take place at Yougroo.

"The town of Yougroo, I was told, generally contained but about 500 or 600 inhabitants, although, during the election, &c. there must have been, at least, 5000 or 6000 persons present.

"The mourners for the deceased king, of whom there are 16 in number, are the most extraordinary figures that can possibly be conceived. One half of their faces (the upper half) is painted white, forming a hideous contrast with their black countenances. The mourners (literally 'makers of the cry,' i.e. lament) are appointed immediately on the death of the king,[13] and continue their functions until the election of a new king takes place, however long it may be before that event may happen. They are generally girls of from ten to fourteen years of age, and are, while mourners, held sacred and inviolate.

"_Sunday, March 4th_.--This day was appointed for the formal election of a successor to the throne of King George. By noon, the whole of the chiefs and headmen were assembled in the Palaver House, when the Regent, or person appointed to administer the government during the _interregnum_, proposed, in a speech of some length, John Macaulay Wilson to be the future King of the Boollams. Previous to this, a deputation had been sent requesting my presence. I accordingly attended in full dress, along with Mr. S----. The Regent's speech, as literally translated by my interpreter, and immediately after noted down by me, was as follows:--

"'We have now met, headmen and brethren, to perform a great duty, and to exercise a great privilege. It becomes our duty to elect a successor to our vacant throne, "the cry" (i.e. the mourning) being about to close. We have now no king; if we look to his hearth, there is no one there; if we call upon our king, no one answers; thus are we, as children without a father; as a family without a head; whom then shall we choose to sit in the seat of our late venerable king? Who shall walk in the footsteps of him, whose sayings were the sayings of wisdom, and out of whose mouth proceeded justice: whom, I say, shall we elect, but his own son[14], who listened to him when alive, and who will not forget him now that he is dead?

"'You have long known this person; and you know that he will not bring disgrace upon your choice; but that he will do those things which a King of the Boollams ought to do; that he will discourage wickedness, encourage the righteous, and do justice to all men; I therefore propose that John Macaulay Wilson be elected King of the Boollams.'[15] The speaker of the above was an old man, highly respected by all classes, named, 'Nain Banna.' It becomes his duty, immediately on the king's death, to assume the government as Regent; he is, however, on that account ineligible for the throne.

"After some conversation among the chiefs, consisting principally of tributes of praise to the late king, it was formerly announced to me, 'that John Macaulay Wilson was elected King of the Boollams:--that he held the Boollam Country in the palm of his hand:--and that the scales of justice hung upon his finger,' I was also entreated to report to his Excellency the Governor of Sierra Leone, the choice they had made, and their hopes that it would meet with his approbation. The people expecting that I should address them, I rose, and by my interpreter, said, 'that I should not fail to report to my master, His Excellency the Governor of Sierra Leone, the good order and unanimity which had prevailed in the assembly; that I had no doubt but His Excellency would approve of the object of their choice that day; that from what I had heard of their new king, I had no doubt, but that he would justify the confidence they had placed in him; and I trusted that the same good sense and attention to the true interests of their country, which they had shewn that day, would guide all their future deliberations. In conclusion, I begged leave to congratulate them, on having chosen such a ruler; and to congratulate their king, on the distinction that day conferred upon him.'

"The day closed as usual with every manner of licentiousness.

"_Monday, March 5th_.--This being the day appointed for the inauguration of the new king, it was ushered in with the firing of musketry and other demonstrations of joy. At 10 A.M. the chiefs and headmen assembled, and immediately proceeded to the performance of certain mysteries, which take place in the depths of the bush; and to which the initiated only are admitted.

"At noon they emerged from the bush, having the new king with them; whom they now regarded as a complete stranger, providentially sent them from heaven to be their ruler.

"A deputation now requested my presence at the Palaver House, to which they were then conducting the king; the headmen and people dancing around him, as he passed through the streets, in the most fantastic manner. On my arrival the late Regent pronounced a very long harangue in the Boollam language, which was repeated sentence by sentence in the Mandingo and English by the respective interpreters. In this speech, which however I did not note down, Nain Banna rehearsed what had from time immemorial been the practice of the Boollams, in cases such as the present, and declared that all the rites and mysteries proper for the occasion, had been duly performed. He then pronounced a long encomium on the virtues of their late king, and concluded by paying his respects to the new king, and myself, respectively, which he ended with the highest term of respect which the Boollams know:--'May you live for ever.'

"He then requested permission to introduce to the assembly, a stranger whom they were in future to revere, 'King Bey Sherbro;'[16] after which, Bey Sherbro received the homage of his subjects. During this time a number of minstrels played upon their several instruments, some of which were very ingenious and musical. Those in particular, who had come a long distance from the interior, executed with spirit and taste some very beautiful airs; much finer, indeed, than any native music I had yet heard. They accompanied their instruments with extempore recitatives in praise of those chiefs whom they knew. I was, of course, included, as they expected that I would be inclined to reward them handsomely. Each minstrel of any repute had a person attached to him by way of fool or jester, several of whom acted their parts very well, and strongly reminded me of Shakspeare's clowns.

"Dalmahoumedii was in the assembly, surrounded by a number of followers, but he appeared to feel that he had lost ground. He took no part in the proceedings.

"If it were fair to estimate the character of a people, by their conduct during a period of unbounded license, I should say that they were generally, almost universally, a nation of thieves, idlers, and drunkards. It was with difficulty, indeed, I could preserve my own private stock of wines, &c. I was assured, however, that such is not their general character, although they are, no doubt, like all Africans, extremely indolent and attached to the old customs of their country. To even the most absurd and superstitious of these, they cling with such tenacity, that it would be a work of incalculable labour, and of many years, to induce them to abandon them altogether, even after they should be made conscious of their absurdity and barbarity. The European Missionaries of the present day would never do it. It was attempted some years ago with much zeal, but there is not at this moment, I believe, a single convert to Christianity in Boollam, to reward the labour, or repay the expense, which was lavished on that object. But a very different success has attended the efforts of the disciples of Mahommed in propagating the doctrines of the crescent. Not only in Boollam, but in all the neighbouring districts; even in the Peninsula of Sierra Leone itself, there are twenty converts to the crescent, for one to the cross; and the reason is obvious; the Christian Missionaries begin at the wrong end; they insist upon first making people Christians, and then morality and civilization, they say, follow as matters of course: and they present Christianity in its most inattractive form, to men accustomed to the uncontrollable indulgence of their passions. The Mahommedans know the genius of the people better, and without altering the spirit of their religion, they exhibit it in a manner exactly suited to that genius, as far as regards externals; and in such a form, that the adoption of it even flatters the vanity of the convert. Thus, in the article of dress, the Mahommedans have a peculiar or distinguishing cap; to be entitled to wear which, is, in itself, a matter very flattering to the vanity of the young worshipper of the crescent; and I am convinced, that were it incumbent upon Christians to wear in public a red cross on the shoulder or hat, that it would be the means of drawing many to listen to the doctrines of Christianity: and really I can see no sin in the means thus adopted.

"This evening I despatched the barge to Sierra Leone, with an account of our progress, and requesting the Convention to be immediately transmitted, together with the usual presents to be given to the new King and chiefs. In the mean time every measure was taken, and argument used (with occasional presents), to induce the chiefs and headmen to consent to the cession of the sovereignty of the country to Great Britain.

"_Tuesday, March 6th_.--This morning I walked out to make a few observations, and to form some idea of the capabilities of the Boollam country. What struck me, in the first instance, was the great fertility, and natural beauty of the surrounding country, which it was really painful to contrast with the extreme ignorance and indolence of its inhabitants. There is not, perhaps, a country under Heaven more calculated to repay the exertions of industry, from the richness and fertility of the soil; as also from the flatness of the country, which would prevent the soil from being carried away by the rains when cleared of the bush. It is in my opinion far more adapted for agricultural purposes than the Sierra Leone side of the bay. Spices of almost every description grow naturally and in abundance; and it would require but little capital, with industry, to make the soil produce sugar, coffee, tobacco, and indigo in great plenty. In short, the produce of the Boollam country might, without very great labour be made to rival that of either our East or West India possessions, in fact almost every article imported into Great Britain from either is indigenous to this soil. The indolent and lazy natives, however, cultivate little excepting rice. The articles procured from the British settlement at Sierra Leone, such as fire-arms, gunpowder, tobacco, rum, &c. are got in exchange for timber, and occasionally labour.

"During my residence in Boollam, it frequently struck me, that a British Settlement on the Boollam coast would be highly desirable, say at Madina. For the reasons stated above, I am almost certain that practical agriculture would soon become prevalent, inasmuch as it would soon become profitable. Another, and a very strong inducement to settlers would be, that Madina, and indeed the whole range of the Boollam coast, is very healthy. What is called the _country fever_ in Sierra Leone, is scarcely known in Boollam.

"To-day five or six of the mourners came to do service to me, which they performed by bending their heads to the earth, and, in that position, moaning in a low tone the praises of the deceased King, mixed with compliments to myself.

"At midnight I received letters from Sierra Leone, by which I had the satisfaction of learning that His Excellency approved of my measures.

"_Wednesday, March 7th_.--This day I succeeded in removing the numberless evasions and objections urged by the chiefs against the treaty.

"In effecting this measure Mr. S----'s exertions were of the greatest service.

"In the evening we were a good deal amused by the natives fishing on the beach. They caught a great number of fish, such as snappers, cat-fish, soles, sharks, &c.

"_Thursday 8th_.--This day the convention arrived, and the blanks being filled up, and the treaty solemnly signed and ratified, I had the satisfaction on _Friday, March 9th, 1827_, of hoisting the British flag, and of taking possession of Boollam in the name of His Britannic Majesty."

Such is the narrative of Lieutenant Maclean, respecting a people whose habits are as peculiar as his account of them must be interesting to Englishmen.

_September 21st, 1827_.--On this day I attended the Court, to hear the trial to which I have already alluded. It was a case of adultery, and the parties were all free blacks. The action was brought by a carpenter against the Rev. Samuel Thorpe, a preacher at one of the Independent chapels, for criminal conversation with his wife; and, as I have a copy from the records of the Court, I think it will be much more satisfactory to insert the document in full, than to supersede it by any desultory remarks of my own. It will give a clear and characteristic idea of the state of society amongst these people. The occurrence was so unusual, that it created no small astonishment, that such a case should be brought into Court. The following is the address of the plaintiff's counsel, and the verdict.

BERNARD _v_. THORPE.

"Gentlemen of the Jury,

"I bespeak your attention and indulgence. I am not only this day the advocate of my client, but I am lending my humble efforts to defend, perhaps I ought to say, assert, the divine right and sacredness of the social compact of marriage, the palladium of every married man's family, happiness and comfort. I will remind you, gentlemen of the jury, that this is the first action of the kind that has been tried on these boards since the colony has been ceded to the British crown.--Among you, gentlemen of the jury, I see fathers, brothers, and husbands, to all I appeal this day on behalf of my client, and of this colony. Shew the world this day, by your verdict, that you will not suffer with impunity the foul crime of adultery to be committed in the face of a rising family; shew the value in which you hold the solemn engagements of your female relatives; let your verdict warn the seducer that he dare not trespass on any man's honour, or blight with apathy, for one moment, any pleasure or gratification of his conjugal tenderness.

"It has been too common in actions of this kind, for the defendant to treat with contumely the humble situation of the injured prosecutor. I do not apprehend much from any such attempt in this cause. I acknowledge, gentlemen, that my client is a very humble individual, but he is a respectable and an honest man, by trade a carpenter. I see, gentlemen, on your countenances, that his humble lot shall not deprive him from having his happiness considered as dear to him as to any man, and equally inviolate; for you need not be told, that the comforts and happiness of the rich and the poor originate from one source: as it is not necessary to be rich to feel with acuteness the pain to which our weak frames are subject, or to enjoy with zest the most pleasurable sensations, so the poor possess the same advantages; indeed, it is the poor to whom family happiness must be the greatest solace! the rich have various resources to derive comfort from; the poor seldom more than centres in their family. But before I attempt to describe to you the sufferings of my client, I shall enter rather minutely into the actual situation in life in which the plaintiff and defendant in this action are placed: if unnecessary to some of you, yet there may be others who naturally demand this explanation should be given; I trust this will be admitted as my apology.