The elephant is celebrated for its sagacity, docility, courage, strength, and size, and particularly for its attachment to its owner. The Africans have been mistaken in, or they despise the benevolent disposition of this animal; and instead of endeavouring to tame it, and apply it to useful purposes, they hunt it, kill it, eat its flesh, and sell its teeth. The country also contains a vast number of apes of a small species: those of Galam are larger; the people often go into the woods to amuse themselves with their tricks. When they wish for young ones in order to tame them, they hunt the dams, which always carry their young in their arms: they fire at them, and the dam generally falls either dead or mortally wounded, pressing her young to her bosom. The hunter then takes it from the mother, which, if not dead, expires through despair. After the accounts of Buffon and Daubenton, nothing remains for me to say of the lion, tiger, &c. The river horse which I have already described, is common in the Senegal. The birds of Africa have likewise been described by several naturalists. The paroquets of the Senegal are not esteemed: they speak with difficulty, and pronounce badly; in fact this is a heavy, melancholy, and stupid bird. A species, however, unknown either at Senegal or in Europe, was discovered by chance during my governorship, in the isle of Sor: it was a young bird, and as yellow as a lemon. A Negro made me a present of it; I reared it with care, and in a short time it began to speak, but its voice was broken and harsh. As it grew up it acquired a few green feathers; but the yellow colour was always predominant. In the course of time it spoke much better than at first. This extraordinary bird which I wished to present to our naturalists, came to an unfortunate end. Being saved with me at the time of my shipwreck on the coast of Wales, it was seized and eaten by a cat on the very night of my landing. * * * * * CHAP. XIV. * * * * * OF THE MOORS WHO OCCUPY THE RIGHT BANK OF THE SENEGAL, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR ORIGIN, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, RELIGION, AND LANGUAGE. — OF THE GUM TRADE, WHICH THEY EXCLUSIVELY CARRY ON. — NATURE AND RESULT OF THAT TRAFFIC. — DESCRIPTION OF THE TREE WHICH PRODUCES THE GUM. THE right bank of the Senegal is under the dominion of the Negro kings, Brack and Siratick, who, as we have already stated, reside on the left bank; but their sovereignty on the right side is almost nugatory: for there begins the immense desert which runs from east to west, from the sea as far as Galam; and from south to north, from the Senegal to the kingdom of Morocco. This sea of sand is known by the name of the _Great Desert of Sahara_, and is inhabited by the Moors, who, instead of acknowledging the authority of the Negro kings, are their irreconcilable enemies.