A voyage to Senegal : $b or, Historical, philosophical, and political memoirs, relative to the discoveries, establishments and commerce of Europeans in the Atlantic Ocean, from Cape Blanco to the river of Sierra LeoneDurand, Jean Baptiste Léonard
History
A voyage to Senegal : $b or, Historical, philosophical, and political memoirs, relative to the discoveries, establishments and commerce of Europeans in the Atlantic Ocean, from Cape Blanco to the river of Sierra Leone
Durand, Jean Baptiste Léonard
Africa, Northwest; Senegal -- Description and travel
The weazle of this country is not larger than that of Europe; but
it is totally white, and so brilliant is the colour, that it seems
to be covered with silver. It is fierce, and naturally untameable:
it bites in a strange manner; and when it gets any thing between its
teeth, it is easier to kill it, than make it let go its hold. It is
long, strong, and slender; and its continual motion gives it such
an extraordinary appetite, that it is obliged to be continually
in search of food. It preys upon birds, fowls, rats, and serpents;
indeed, nothing comes amiss to it; and when it meets with an animal
for which it has a liking, consulting less its strength than its
courage, it springs upon the victim, forces in its sharp and long
claws, and in the end always overcomes it.
The Negroes continually hunt this animal, though with great
precaution, for they have a singular dread of its bite; and to
secure themselves against it, they catch the weazle by snares,
and kill it before they take it from the trap; they then eat the
flesh, and sell the skin to the French at the factory of Galam,
or to the English, by the means of caravans which convey the slaves.
The pigeons of this country are large, and in shape like our own;
but they have this peculiarity, that their plumage is quite green,
there not being a feather of any other colour. At a distance they
look like parroquets. They breed fast, and are very good to eat.
The kingdom of Mériné is not very large: Rubault passed through its
narrowest part. The people are Mandingos, and possess an active and
mercantile spirit. They consist of Mahometans and idolaters, but the
latter are most numerous; they, however, live in harmony together,
and never suffer religious differences to disturb their peace.
On the 10th of February, Rubault set off early in the morning,
and arrived at noon at the village of Talliko, a frontier of the
kingdom of Bondou: this is probably the same village which Mungo Park
calls Tallika, and by which he also entered the kingdom. The major
part of the inhabitants of this village are Foulahs, who profess
the Mahometan religion: they are merchants, who enrich themselves
either by supplying the caravans which pass through their country
with provisions, or by the sale of ivory, which they procure by
hunting elephants, to which they are accustomed from their infancy.
By the 14th Rubault had reached the village of Coursan, the ordinary
residence of the king of the country, whose name is Almami. It is
worthy of remark, that Mr. Park no longer followed the track of my
traveller: for he indicates the residence of the king of Bondou to
be at the village of Fatteconda, on the right bank of the river
Félémé, and at a great distance from Coursan. Both gentlemen
saw the king, and have given a description of the palace which he
inhabited, which exactly correspond; hence we can only reconcile
the difference in the places to arise from the king having palaces
at each of them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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