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
We also meet in the journey above described numerous hordes of
elephants; but they do no injury, nor ever disturb travellers:
and likewise with parties of apes, who amuse by their watching and
singular antics. There is also an aquatic animal sometimes found
which the Cereses call _bourba_. This animal is something between
the bear and the hog: its hair is short, thin, and whitish; and its
feet have tolerably strong and pointed claws, which it uses to climb
up trees like the bear. Its head is more like the bear’s than the
hog’s; and though wild, it has not a terrific aspect. Its eyes are
small and half closed, notwithstanding which it is very active. Its
mouth is large and furnished with long and sharp strong teeth. It
lives almost constantly in the rivers, notwithstanding which it is
ascertained to be amphibious: its size is equal to that of a hog
about a year old; and its flesh is fat and succulent.
Several persons have published their accounts of this little journey,
and they all agree in stating that it is easy and agreeable. Indeed,
I never heard of the slightest accident happening to those who
performed it. The travellers arrive unfatigued at the village of
Gandiolle, which is situated at the mouth of the Senegal, where
they embark in canoes, and proceed to isle St. Louis in two or
three hours, ascending the river by means of their oars.
The coast on which the commerce with Goree is established, as has
been specified in the preceding passages, is divided amongst, and
governed by, four negro kings. The most important and considerable
of these states is that of Cayor, which is worthy of particular
attention on account of the influence which its king, named Damel,
has had in the success or disasters of the French establishments
in this vicinity.
The kingdom of Cayor begins in the province of Toubè on the
continent, and is about six leagues distant eastwards of Senegal,
from which it is only separated by some marshes and the isle of
Sor. It extends along the sea as far as the village called Grand
Brigny, the frontier of the kingdom of Baol. Its continent is only a
short league from Goree, but it stretches nearly sixty leagues in the
interior. It was joined to the dominions of the provinces of Baol in
1695, after a sanguinary war, in which the latter were conquerors,
and possessed both states to the year 1717. The king gave himself
the name of Damel, which is the particular appellation of the king
of Cayor; but at the death of Tinmacodon, the inconvenience arising
from so great an extent of country being under one governor was
seriously felt, and the kingdom was again divided, when Amarizone,
brother to the deceased monarch, ascended the throne of Baol.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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