KAJAAGA

KAJAAGA, an African kingdom, called by the French Gallam, is bounded on the south-east and south by Bambouk; on the west, by Bondou and Foota Torra; and on the north, by the river Senegal. The air and climate (says Mr Park) are more pure and salubrious than at any of the settlements towards the coast; the face of the country is every where interspersed with a pleasing variety of hills and valleys; and the windings of the Senegal river, which descends from the rocky hills of the interior, make the scenery on its banks very picturesque and beautiful. The inhabitants are called Serawoollies, or (as the French write it) Seracolets. Their complexion is a jet black: they are not to be distinguished in this respect from the Jaloffs. The government is monarchical; and the regal authority, from what I experienced of it, seems to be sufficiently formidable. The people themselves, however, complain of no oppression; and seemed all very anxious to support the king in a contest he was going to enter into with the sovereign of Kallon. The Serawoollies are habitually a trading people; they formerly carried on a great commerce with the French in gold and slaves, and still maintain some traffic in slaves with the British factories on the Gambia. They are reckoned tolerably fair and just in their dealings, but are indefatigable in their exertions to acquire wealth, and they derive considerable profits by the sale of salt and cotton cloth in distant countries. When a Serawoolli merchant returns home from a trading expedition, the neighbours immediately assemble to congratulate him upon his arrival. On these occasions the traveller displays his wealth and liberality, by making a few presents to his friends; but if he has been unsuccessful, his levee is soon over; and every one looks upon him as a man of no understanding, who could perform a long journey, and (as they express it) bring back nothing but the hair upon his head. Their language abounds much in gutturals, and is not so harmonious as that spoken by the Foulahs: it is, however, well worth acquiring by those who travel through this part of the African continent; it being very generally understood in the kingdoms of Kallon, Kaarta, Ludamar, and the northern parts of Bambara. In all these countries the Serawoollies are the chief traders. Joag, the frontier town of this kingdom as you enter it from Pifania, may be supposed, on a gross computation, to contain two thousand inhabitants. It is surrounded by a high wall, in which are a number of port holes, for musquetry to fire through in case of an attack. Every man's possession is likewise surrounded by a wall; the whole forming so many distinct citadels; and amongst a people unacquainted with the use of artillery, these walls answer all the purposes of stronger fortifications. To the westward of the town is a small river, on the banks of which the natives raise great plenty of tobacco and onions. Mr Park was in this town plundered of half his effects by order of the king, because forsooth he had neglected to pay the accustomed duties before he entered the kingdom; and it required a good deal of address to prevent himself and his attendants from being made slaves; a state to which the law, it was said, condemned them for the commission of this unintended crime. He was at last rescued from Joag by a nephew of the king of Kallon. Joag is placed by Major Rennel in 14^{\circ} 25' N. Lat. and 9^{\circ} 46' W. Lon. KAINSI is the name given by the Hottentots to a particular species of antelope, of which, according to Vaillant, no author has yet given a perfect description. It is called by the Dutch klip-springer, on account of the ease with which it leaps from rock to rock; and indeed of all the antelopes there is no one equal to it in agility. It is about the size of a kid of a year old, and of a yellowish grey colour; but its hair has this peculiarity, that, instead of being round, pliable, and firm, like that of most other quadrupeds, it is flat, harsh, and so little adherent to the skin, that the slightest friction makes it fall off. Nothing is more easy, therefore, than to deprive this animal of its hair: dead or alive it is the same; to rub, or even to touch the animal, is sufficient. Another peculiarity of this singular hair is its being extremely fragile; so that if you take a tuft of it between your fingers, and twist it with the other hand, it will break like the barbs of a feather. This property, however, belongs not exclusively to the hair of the kainsi; for our author says he has observed it in the hair of other quadrupeds, which in the same manner live among the rocks. This antelope differs from the other species also in the shape of the foot, which, instead of being pointed like theirs, is rounded at the end; and as it is always accustomed, both in leaping and walking, to tread with the point of the hoof, without resting at all on the heel, it leaves a print distinguishable from that of any other antelope in Africa. Its flesh is exquisitely flavoured, and much sought after, particularly by the hunters. The chace of the kainfi is very amusing. It is true, it is scarcely possible to hunt it down with dogs, as it soon escapes them by means of its inconceivable agility, and gets out of their reach on the point of some detached rock, where it will remain whole hours safe from all pursuit, and suspended, as it were, above the abyss. But in this situation it is excellently placed for the arrow or the ball of the huntsman; who is commonly certain of shooting it at pleasure, though he is not always able to come at it when killed. We shall give our author's account of a chace of the kainfi in his own words. "I was hunting (says he) one of these animals, when, from the nature of the place, it found itself so pressed by my dogs, as to be on the point of being run down and taken. There were apparently no means of escape; since before it was a vast perpendicular rock, by which its course was necessarily stopped. In this wall, however, which appeared to me perfectly smooth, was a little ridge, projecting at most not above two inches, which the kainfi quickly perceived, and, leaping upon it, to my great astonishment kept itself firm (A). I imagined, that at any rate it must soon tumble down; and my dogs, too, so fully expected it, that they ran to the bottom of the rock, to be ready to catch it when it fell. To hasten its fall, I endeavoured to harass it, and make it lose its equilibrium; and for this purpose I pelted it with stones. All at once, as if guessing my design, it collected its whole strength, bounded over my head, and, falling a few paces from me, darted away with the utmost speed. Notwithstanding the rapidity of its flight, it would have been easy for me to have shot it; but its leap had so surprised and amused me, that I gave it its life." This was generous, if the story be true.