downs. There some boats, which were coming up the river, were to take us on
board, and convey us to St. Louis. When we had nearly reached this spot, we
crossed the downs, and enjoyed the sight of the river which we had so long
desired to meet with.

Happily too, it was the season when the water of the Senegal is fresh: we
quenched our thirst at our pleasure. We stopped at last; it was only eight
o'clock in the morning. We had no shelter during the whole day, except some
trees, which were of a kind unknown to me, and which had a sombre foliage.
I frequently went into the river, but without venturing too far from the
bank, for fear of the alligators.

About two o'clock, a small boat arrived; the master of it asked for Mr.
Picard; he was sent by one of the old friends of that gentleman, and
brought him provisions and clothes for his family. He gave notice to us
all, in the name of the English Governor, that two other boats loaded with
provisions, were coming. Having to wait till they arrived, I could not
remain with Mr. Picard's family. I know not what emotion arose in my soul
when I saw the fine white bread cut, and the wine poured out, which would
have given me so much pleasure. At four o'clock we also were able to eat
bread and good biscuit, and to drink excellent Madeira, which was lavished
on us with little prudence. Our sailors were drunk; even those among us who
had been more cautious, and whose heads were stronger, were, to say the
least, very merry. How did our tongues run as we went down the river in our
boats! After a short and happy navigation, we landed at Saint Louis, about
seven o'clock in the evening.

But what should we do? whither should we go?  Such were our reflections
when we set foot on shore. They were not of long duration. We met with some
of our comrades belonging to the boats who had arrived before us, who
conducted us, and distributed us among various private houses, where every
thing had been prepared to receive us well. I shall always remember the
kind hospitality which was shewn to us, in general, by the white
inhabitants of St. Louis, both English and French. We were all made
welcome; we had all clean linen to put on, water to wash our feet; a
sumptuous table was ready for us. As for myself, I was received, with
several of my companions, in the house of Messrs. Potin and Durecur,
Merchants of Bordeaux. Every thing they possessed was lavished upon us.
They gave me linen, light clothes, in short, whatever I wanted. I had
nothing left. Honour to him, who knows so well how to succour the
unfortunate; to him especially who does it with so much simplicity, and as
little ostentation as these gentlemen did. It seemed that it was a duty for
them to assist every body. They would willingly have left to others no
share in the good that was to be done. English officers eagerly claimed the
pleasure, as they expressed it, of having some of the shipwrecked people to
take care of. Some of us had feather beds, others good mattrasses laid upon
mats, which they found very comfortable. I slept ill notwithstanding, I was
too much fatigued, too much agitated: I always fancied, myself either
bandied about by the waves, or treading on the burning sands.(B)

[A11] XXI.--_On the Manufactures of the Moors_.

The Moors tan skins with the dried pods of the Gummiferous Accia: thus
prepared, they are impenetrable to the rain, and it may be affirmed that,
for their suppleness, as well as for the brilliancy and finesss of their
grain, they might become a valuable fur in Europe, either for use or
ornament. The most beautiful of these skins seemed to be those of very
young goats, taken from the belly of the dam before the time of gestation
is completed. The great numbers of these animals, which are found round all
the inhabited places, allow the inhabitants to sacrifice many to this
species of luxury, without any extraordiny loss. The cloaks, with a hood,
which are mentioned in this memoir, are composed of several of these skins,
ingeniously sewed together, with small and very fine seams. These garments,
designed as a protection against the cold and the rain, are generally
black, but some are also seen of a reddish colour, which are not so
beautiful, and heavier these latter are made of the skins of the kind of
sheep, known by the name of guinea-sheep, which have hair instead of wool.
As for the goldsmiths work, made by these people, it is executed by
travelling workmen, who are at the same time armourers, smiths and
jewellers. Furnished with a leather bag which is provided with an iron
pipe, and filled with air, which they press and fill alternately, by
putting it under their thigh, which they keep in constant motion, singing
all the while; seated before a little hole dug in the sand, and under the
shade of some leaves of the date-tree laid upon their heads, they execute
on a little anvil, and with the help of a hammer, and some small iron awls,
not only all kinds of repairs necessary to fire-arms, sabres, &c. but
manufacture knives and daggers, and also make bracelets, earrings, and
necklaces of gold, which they have the art of drawing into very fine wire,
and forming into ornaments for women, in a manner which, though it wants
taste, makes us admire the skill of the workman, especially when we
consider the nature, and the small number of the tools which he employs.

The Moors, like the Mahometan negroes, are for the most part, provided with
a larger or smaller number of _gris-gris_, a kind of talisman consisting in
words, or verses copied from the Coran, to which they ascribe the power of
securing them against diseases, witchcraft and accidents, and which they
buy of their priests or Marabous. Some Spaniards from Teneriffe, who came
to Cape Verd, at the time that the French Expedition had taken refuge
there, struck us all, by their resemblance with these Africans. It was not
only by their brown complexions that they resembled them; but it was also
by their long rosaries, twisted in the some manner about their arms,
resembling, except the cross, those of the Moors, and by the great number
of Amulets, (_gris-gris_ of another kind) which they wear round their
necks, and by which they seemed to wish to rival the infidels in credulity.
There is then, in the South of Europe, as well as in the North of Africa, a
class of men, who would found their authority, upon ignorance, and derive
their authority from superstition.

[A12] XXII.--_On the Bark given to the Sick_.

The bark, which began to be administered at that time, had been damaged,
but an attempt was made to supply the want of it by the bark which the
negroes use to cure the dysentery, and which they bring from the environs
of Rufisque. This bark, of which they made a secret, seems to come from
some terebinthine plant, and perhaps, from the _monbins_, which are common
on this part of the coast. In the winter fevers which prevail at Goree,
Cape Verd, &c. two methods of cure were employed which had different
effects. These fevers were often attended with cholic, spasms in the
stomach, and diarrhea. The first method consisted in vomitting, purging,
and then administering the bark, to which musk was sometimes added, when
the disorder grew worse. In this case, when the disease did not end in
death, the fever was often succeeded by dysentery, or those who believed
themselves cured, were subject to relapses. The second method, which Doctor
Bergeron employed with more success, was opposite to the former; he vomited
the patients but little, or not at all, endeavouring to calm the symptoms,
to strengthen the patient by bitters, and at the last, he administered the
bark.[A13]

The Negroes who, like all other people, have a materia medica, and
pharmacopeia of their own, and who at this season, are subject to the same
disorders as the Europeans, have recourse at the very beginning, to a more
heroic remedy, and such of our soldiers encamped at Daccard, as made use of
it, in general found benefit from it. The Priest or Marabous, who often
offered them the assistance of his art, made them take a large glass of
rum-punch, very warm, with a slight infusion of cayenne pepper. An
extraordinary perspiration generally terminated this fit. The patient then
avoided, for some days, walking in the sun, and eat a small quantity of
roasted fish and cous-cous, mixed with a sufficient quantity of cassia
leaves of different species, to operate as a gentle purgative. In order to
keep up the perspiration, or according to the Negro Doctor, to strengthen
the skin, he applied from time to time, warm lotions of the leaves of the
palma christi, and of cassia, (_casse puante_.) The use of rum, which is
condemned by the Mahometan religion, and is a production foreign to this
country, gives reason to suppose that the remedy is of modern date, among
the Negroes.

[A13] It is to be observed that the author, in these two passages, uses the
word _Kina_ or Peruvian bark--T.

[A14] XXIII.--_On the Isle of St. Louis_.

St. Louis is a bank of scorching sand, without drinkable water or verdure,
with a few tolerable houses towards the South, and a great number of low
smoky straw huts, which, occupy almost all the North part. The houses are
of brick, made of a salt clay, (_argile salée_) which the wind reduces to
powder, unless they are carefully covered with a layer of chalk or lime,
which it is difficult to procure, and the dazzling whiteness of which
injures the eyes.

Towards the middle of this town, if it may be so called, is a large
manufactory in ruins, which is honored with the name of a fort, and of
which the English have sacrificed a part, in order to make apartments for
the governor, and to make the ground floor more airy, to quarter troops in
it.

Opposite is a battery of heavy cannon, the parapet of which covers the
square, on which are some trees, planted in strait lines for ornament.
These trees are oleaginous Benjamins (_Bens Olefères_) which give no shade,
and ought to be replaced by tamarinds, or sycamores, which are common in
this neighbourhood, and would thrive well on this spot. None but people
uncertain of their privilege to trade on this river, merchants who came
merely to make a short stay, and indolent speculators would have contented
themselves with this bank of burning sand, and not have been tempted by the
cool shades and more fertile lands, which are within a hundred toises, but
which, indeed, labour alone could render productive. Every thing is
wretched in this situation.

Saint Louis is but a halting place in the middle of the river, where
merchants who were going up it to seek slaves and gum, moored their
vessels, and deposited their provisions, and the goods they had brought
with them to barter.

What is said in the narrative of the means of attacking this port, is
correct. When the enemy have appeared, the Negroes have always been those
who have defended it with the most effect. But unhappily, there, as in the
Antilles, persons are already to be found, who are inclined to hold out
their hands to the English.

At Louis there are some palm-trees, and the lantara flabelliformis. Some
little gardens have been made; but a cabbage, or a salad, are still of some
value. Want, the mother of industry, obliged some of the inhabitants,
during the war, to turn their thoughts to cultivation, and it should be the
object of the government to encourage them.

[A15] XXIV.--_On the Islands of Goree and Cape Verd_.

At the distance of 1200 toises from the Peninsula of Cape Verd, a large
black rock rises abruptly, from the surface of the sea. It is cut
perpendicularly on one side, inaccessible in two-thirds of its
circumference, and terminates, towards the south, in a low beach which it
commands, and which is edged with large stones, against which the sea
dashes violently. This beach, which is the prolongation of the base of the
rock, bends in an arch, and forms a recess, where people land as they can.
At the extremity of this beach is a battery of two or three guns; on the
beach of the landing-place, is an epaulement, with embrasures which
commands it. The town stands on this sand bank, and a little fort, built on
the ridge of the rock, commands and defends it. In its present state, Goree
could not resist a ship of the line. Its road, which is only an anchoring
place in the open sea, is safe in the most stormy weather; but it is
exposed to all winds except those that blow from the island, which then
serves to shelter it.

The Europeans who desire to carry on the slave trade, have preferred this
arid rock, placed in the middle of a raging sea, to the neighbouring
continent, where they would find water, wood, vegetables, and in short, the
necessaries of life. The same reason which has caused the preference to be
given to a narrow and barren sand bank, in the middle of the Senegal to
build St. Louis, has also decided in favor of Goree: it is, that both of
them are but dens, or prisons, intended as a temporary confinement for
wretches who, in any other situation, would find means to escape. To deal
in men, nothing is wanting but fetters and jails, but as this kind of gain
no longer exists, if it is wished to derive other productions from these
possessions, and not to lose them entirely, it will be necessary to change
the nature of our speculations, and to direct our views and our efforts to
the continent, where industry and agriculture promise riches, the
production of which humanity will applaud.

The point which seems most proper for an agricultural establishment, is
Cape Belair, a league and a half to the leward of Goree: its soil is a rich
black mould, lying on a bed of Lava, which seems to come from the Mamelles.
It is there that other large vegetables, besides the Baobabs, begin to be
more numerous, and which, farther on, towards Cape Rouge, cover, like a
forest, all the shores. The wells of Ben, which supply Goree with water,
are but a short distance from it, and the lake of Tinguage, begins in the
neighbourhood. This lake, which is formed, in a great measure, by the rain
water of the Peninsula, contains a brackish water, which it is easy to
render potable; it is inhabited by the Guésiks, or Guia-Sicks of the
Yoloffes, or Black Crocodiles of Senegal; but it would be easy to destroy
these animals. In September, this lake seems wholly covered with white
nymphaea, or water-lilly, and in winter time it is frequented by a
multitude of waterfowl, among which, are distinguished by their large size,
die great pelican, the fine crested crane, which has received the name of
the royal-bird, the gigantic heron, known in Senegambia by the venerable
name of Marabou, on account of its bald head, with a few scattered white
hairs, its lofty stature, and its dignified gait.

Considered geologically, the Island of Goree is a group of basaltic columns
still standing, but a part of which seem to have experienced the action of
the same cause of destruction and overthrow, as the columns of the same
formation of Cape Verd, because they are inclined and overthrown in the
same direction.

Cape Verd is a peninsula about five leagues and a half long; the breadth is
extremely variable. At its junction, with the continent, it is about four
leagues broad; by the deep recess which the Bay of Daccard forms, it is
reduced, near that village, to 600 toises, and becomes broader afterwards.
This promontory, which forms the most western part of Africa, is placed, as
it were, at the foot of a long hill, which represents the ancient shore of
the continent. On the sea-shore, and towards the north-east, there are two
hills of unequal height, which serve as a guide to mariners; and which,
from the substances collected in their neighbourhood, evidently shew that
they are the remains of an ancient volcano. They have received the name of
Mamelles. From this place, to the western extremity of the Peninsula, the
country rises towards the north-east, and terminates in a sandy beach on
the opposite side.

Almost the whole north-side is composed of steep rocks, covered with large
masses of oxyd of iron, or with regular columns of basalt which, for the
most part, still preserve their vertical position. Their summits, which are
sometimes scorified, seem to prove that they have been exposed to a great
degree of heat. The soil which covers the plateau, formed by the summit of
the Basaltic columns, the sides of which assume towards the Mamelles, the
appearance of walls of Trapp, but already, in a great degree, changed into
tuf, is arid and covered with briars. The soil of the Mamelles, like almost
all that of the middle of the Peninsula, which appears to lie upon
argillaceous lava, in a state of decomposition, is much better. There are
even to be found, here and there, some spots that are very fertile; this is
the arable land of the inhabitants. Towards the south, all resumes more or
less, the appearance of a desert; and the sands, though less destitute of
vegetable mould, extend from thence to the sea-shore. It is by manuring the
land, with the dung of their cattle, that the Negroes raise pretty good
crops of sorgho. The population of this peninsula may be estimated at ten
thousand souls. It is entirely of the Yoloffe race, and shews much
attachment to all the ceremonies of Islamism. The Marabous or Priests,
sometimes mounted on the top of the Nests of the Termites, or on the walls
surrounding their mosque, call the people several times a-day to prayer.

The social state of this little people, is a kind of republic governed by a
senate, which is composed of the chiefs of most of the villages. They have
taken from the Coran the idea of this form of government, as is the
case with most of those, established among the nations who follow that law.

At the time of the expedition of the Medusa this senate was composed as
follows:

Moctar, supreme chief resident of      Daccard.
Diacheten, chief of the village of     Sinkieur.
Phall                                  Yokedieff.
Tjallow-Talerfour                      Graff.
Mouim                                  Bott.
Bayémour                               Kayé.
Modiann                                Ketdym.
Mamcthiar                              Symbodioun.
Ghameu                                 Wockam.
Diogheul, chief of the village of      Gorr.
Baindonlz                              Yoff.
Mofall                                 Ben.
Schenegall                             Bambara.

This tribe was formerly subject to a Negro King in the neighbourhood; but
having revolted against him, though very inferior in numbers, it defeated
his army a few years ago. The bones of the vanquished, that still lie
scattered on the plain, attest the victory. A wall, pierced with
loop-holes, which they erected in the narrowest part of the Peninsula, and
which the enemy was unable to force, chiefly contributed to their success.
The Yolloffes are in general handsome and their facial angle has hardly any
thing of the usual deformity of the Negroes. Their common food is
cous-cous, with poultry, and above all fish; their drink is brackish water,
mixed with milk and sometimes with palm wine. The poor go on foot, the rich
on horseback, and some ride upon bulls, which are always very docile, for
the Negroes are eminently distinguished by their good treatment of all
animals. Their wealth consists in land and cattle; their dwellings are
generally of reeds, their beds are mats made of _Asouman_ (maranta juncea)
and leopards' skins; and their cloathing broad pieces of cotton. The women
take care of the children, pound the millet, and prepare the food; the men
cultivate the land, go a hunting and fishing, weave the stuff for their
clothes, and gather in the wax.

Revenge and idleness seem to be the only vices of these people; their
virtues are charity, hospitality, sobriety, and love of their children. The
young women are licentious, but the married women are generally chaste and
attached to their husbands. Their diseases among the children, are worms,
and umbilical hernia; among the old people, and particularly those who have
travelled much, blindness and opthalamia; and among the adult, affections
of the heart, obstructions, sometimes leprosy, and rarely elephantiasis.
Among the whole population of the Peninsula, there is only one person with
a hunch back, and two or three who are lame. During the day they work or
rest; but the night is reserved for dancing and conversation. As soon as
the sun has set, the tambourine is heard, the women sing; the whole
population is animated; love and the ball set every body in motion.
"_Africa dances all the night_," is an expression which has become
proverbial among the Europeans who have travelled there.

There is not an atom of calcareous stone in the whole country: almost all
the plants are twisted and thorny. The Monbins are the only species of
timber that are met with. The thorny asparagus, A. retrofractus, is found
in abundance in the woods; it tears the clothes, and the centaury of Egypt
pricks the legs. The most troublesome insects of the neighbourhood are
gnats, bugs, and ear-wigs. The monkey, called cynocephalus, plunders the
harvests, the vultures attack the sick animals, the striped hyoena and the
leopard prowl about the villages during the night; but the cattle are
extremely beautiful, and the fish make the sea on this coast boil, and foam
by their extraordinary numbers. The hare of the Cape and the gazell are
frequently met with. The porcupines, in the moulting season, cast their
quills in the fields, and dig themselves holes under the palm trees. The
guinea-fowl (Pintada), the turtle-dove, the wood-pigeon are found every
where. In winter immense flocks of plovers of various species, are seen on
the edges of the marshes, and also great numbers of wild ducks. Other
species frequent the reeds, and the surface of the water is covered with
geese of different kinds, among which is that whose head bears a fleshy
tubercle like that of the cassowary. The fishing nets are made of date
leaves; their upper edge is furnished, instead of cork, with pieces of the
light wood of the _Asclepias_.--The sails of the canoes are made of cotton.

Several shrubs, and a large number of herbaceous plants of this part of
Africa, are found also in the Antilles. But among the indigenous plants,
are the Cape Jessamine, the _Amaryllis Rubannée_, the Scarlet Hoemanthus,
the Gloriosa Superba, and some extremely beautiful species of _Nerions_. A
new species of Calabash, (Crescentia) with pinnated leaves is very common.
Travellers appear to have confounded it with the Baobab, on account of the
shape of its fruits, the thickness of its trunk, and the way in which its
branches grow. Its wood, which is very heavy and of a fallow colour, has
the grain and smell of ebony: its Yoloffe name is Bonda, the English have
cut down and exported the greatest part of it.

In short, Africa, such as we have seen it either on the banks of the
Senegal or the Peninsula of Cape Verd, is a new country, which promises to
the naturalist an ample harvest of discoveries, and to the philosophical
observer of mankind, a vast field for research and observation. May the
detestable commerce in human flesh, which the Negroes abhor, and the Moors
desire, cease to pollute these shores! It is the only means which the
Europeans have left to become acquainted with the interior of this vast
continent, and to make this great portion of the family of mankind, by
which it is inhabited participate in the benefits of civilization.

[1] The _Medusa_ was armed en flute, having only 14 guns on board;
it was equipped at Rochefort with the _Loire_.

[2] Equipped at Brent.

[3] Came from L'Orient.

[4] The town of Chassiron is on the point of Oleron, opposite a
bank of rocks called _Les Antiochats_.

[5] The light house of La Baleine is placed at the other end of
the Pertuis d'Antioche, on the coast of the Isle of Rhé.

[6] _Les Roches Bonnes _are 8 or 9 leagues from the Isle of Rhé,
their position is not exactly determined on the charts.

[7] Three knots make a marine league of 5556 meters.

[8] These are very large fish which every moment appear on the
surface of the water, where they tumble about. They pass with such
prodigious rapidity, that they will swim round a ship, when it is going at
the rate of nine or ten knots an hour.

[9] The life buoy, is made of cask staves hooped together, and is
about a metre (something more than a yard.) in diameter, in the middle of
which is a little mast to fix a flag to. It is thrown into the sea, as soon
as a man falls overboard, that he may place himself upon it while the
operation of lowering a boat down, or heaving the, vessel to, is
performed.

[10] We do not know why the government makes its vessels take this
route; when one can proceed directly to the Canaries: it is true they are
often obscured by mists, but there are no dangers in the principal canals
which they form, and they extend over so large a space that it is
impossible not to recognise them, with facility. They have also the
advantage of being placed in the course of the monsoons; though however,
west winds sometimes blow for several days together. We think that vessels
going to the East Indies might dispense with making Madeira and Porto
Santo, the more so as there are many shoals near these islands; besides the
rocks, of which we have spoken above there is another, to the N. E. of
Porto Santo, on which many vessels have been lost; by night all these reefs
are very dangerous, by day they are recognised by the breakers on them.

[11] This route was not recommended by the instructions, but there
was on board an old sea officer, who announced himself as a pilot in these
seas; his advice was unfortunately attended to.

[12] A description of the reef of Arguin may be found in the
_Little Sea Torch_.

[13] Besides the instructions given by the Minister, for sailing,
after having made Cape Blanco, there was a letter sent some days before our
departure from the road of the Isle of Aix, recommending the commander of
the expedition not to depend upon the Charts, upon which the reef is very
erroneously placed.

[14] Mr. Lapérère, the officer on the watch before Mr. Maudet,
found by his reckoning, that we were very near the reef; he was not
listened to, though he did his utmost, at least to ascertain our situation
by sounding. We have mentioned the names of Messrs. Lapérère and Maudet,
because if they had been attended to, the Medusa would be still in
existence.

[15] This was not the long boat of the frigate; it was a boat in
no very good condition, which was to be left at Senegal, for the service of
the port.

[16] The bottom was besides soft; being sand mixed with grey mud,
and shells, the raft, were also put over board: the two lower yards were
retained in their place, to serve as shores to the frigate, and to support
it, in case it threatened to upset.

[17] This plan was shewn to several persons; we ourselves saw it
in the hands of the governor, who sketched it, leaning on the great
capstern.

[18] Two officers displayed the greatest activity, they would have
thrown into the sea every thing that could be got overboard. They were
permitted to proceed for a moment; and the next moment contrary orders were
given.

[19] Why was it opposed?

[20] The numbers above mentioned make only three hundred and
eighty-three, so that there is an error somewhere. T.

[21] _Trois quarts_: it is not said of what measure; probably a
pint.--T.

[22] The original is _n'ayant pas le pié marin_, not having a
sailors foot.

[23] Our Lady of Laux is in the Department of the Upper Alps, not
far from Gap. A church has been built there, the patroness of which is much
celebrated, in the country, for her miracles. The lame, the gouty, the
paralytic, found there relief, which it is said, never failed.
Unfortunately, this miraculous power did not extend, it seems, to
shipwrecked persons: at least the poor sutler drew but little advantage
from it.

[24] One of the water casks was recovered; but the mutineers had
made a large hole in it, and the sea water got in, so that the fresh water
was quite spoiled; we, however, kept the little cask as well as one of the
wine barrels, which was empty. These two casks were afterwards of use to
us.

[25] These fish are very small; the largest is not equal to a
small herring.

[26] This plot, as we learned afterwards, was formed particularly
by a Piedmontese serjeant; who, for two days past, had endeavoured to
insinuate himself with us, in order to gain our confidence. The care of the
wine was entrusted to him: he stole it in the night, and, distributed it to
some of his friends.

[27] We had all put together in one bag the money we had, in order
to purchase provisions and hire camels, to carry the sick, in case we
should land on the edge of the desert. The sum was fifteen hundred francs.
Fifteen of us were saved, and each had a hundred francs. The commander of
the raft and a captain of infantry divided it.

[28] One of these soldiers was the same Piedmontese serjeant of
whom we have spoken above; he put his comrades forward, and kept himself
concealed in case their plot should fail.

[29] Persons shipwrecked, in a situation similar to ours, have
found great relief by dipping their clothes in the sea, and wearing them
thus impregnated with the water; this measure was not employed on the fatal
raft.

[30] Perhaps a kind of sea-nettle is here meant.

[31] What is called a fish, is a long piece of wood concave on one
side, serving to be applied to the side of a mast, to strengthen it when in
danger of breaking, it is fastened by strong ropes; hence, to fish a mast.

[32] The conduct of this young man merits some recompense. At the
end of 1816, there was a promotion of 80 midshipmen, who were to be taken
from the _élèves_ who had been the longest in the service; Mr. Rang was.
amongst the first 70, according to the years he had been in the service,
and should therefore have been named by right. In fact, it is said that he
was placed on the list of Candidates; but that his name was struck out
because some young men, (whom they call _protégés_) applied to the
ministry, and were preferred.

[33] This report of a mutiny, among the crew of the long-boat,
began to circulate as soon as it joined the line which the boats formed
before the raft. The following is what was told us: when the boats had
abandoned the raft, several men, in the long-boat, subaltern officers of
the troops on board, exclaimed: _"let us fire on those who fly;"_ already
their muskets were loaded; but the officer, who commanded, had influence
enough to hinder them from executing their purpose. We have also been told
that one F. a quarter-master, presented his piece at the captain of the
frigate. This is all we have been able to collect concerning this pretended
revolt.

[34] The fruit here mentioned, is probably jujubes (ziziphum), in
their last stage of maturity. The author of this note, has found in the
deserts of Barbary, and the shades of the Acacias, some immense _jujubes_;
but, besides this fruit, the only one of a red or reddish colour which he
has remarked in this country, are those of some _caparidées_, very acid;
some _icaques_ before they are ripe; the _tampus_ or _sebestum_ of Africa,
and the wood of a _prasium_, which is very common in most of the dry
places: the calyx of which, is swelled, succulent, and of an orange colour,
good to eat, and much sought after by the natives.

[35] Is it really maize (zea) which has been observed about this
_Marigot_, in large plantations? This name is so often given to varieties
of the Sorgho, or dourha of the negroes, that there is probably a mistake
here. In a publication, printed since this expedition, it has been stated,
that maize was cultivated in the open fields, by the negroes of Cape Verd,
whereas they cultivate no species of grain, except two kinds of _houlques_,
to which they add, here and there, but in smaller fields, a kind of
haricot, or French bean, _dolique unguiculé_, which they gather in October,
and a part of which they sell at Goree and St. Louis, either in pods or
seed. The dishes which they prepare with this _dolique_, are seasoned with
leaves of the Baobab, (Adansonia) reduced to powder, and of cassia, with
obtuse leaves, and still fresh. As for the cous-cous, the usual food of the
negroes, it is made of the meal of sorgho, boiled up with milk. To obtain
this meal, they pound the millet in a mortar, with a hard and heavy pestle
of mahogony, (_mahogon_) which grows on the banks of Senegal. The _mahogon_
or _mahogoni_ which, according to naturalists, has a great affinity to the
family of the _miliacées_, and which approaches to the genus of the
_cedrelles_, is found in India, as well as in the Gulph of Mexico, where it
is beginning to grow scarce. At St. Domingo, it is considered as a species
of _acajou_,[36] and they give it that name. The yellow _mahogoni_, of
India, furnishes the satin wood. There is also the _mahogoni febrifuge_,
the bark of which supplies the place of the Peruvian bark. Lamarque has
observed that the _mahogon_ of Senegal has only eight stamina; the other
kinds have ten.

[36] Acajou is, we believe, generally used for mahogany.--T.

[37] The probity and justice of General Blanchot were so fully
appreciated by the inhabitants of St. Louis, that when his death deprived
the colony of its firmest support, all the merchants and officers of the
government united to raise a monument to him, in which the remains of this
brave general still repose. It was a short time after his death that the
English took possession of St Louis, and all the officers of that nation
joined in defraying the expences of the erection of the monument, on which
there is an epitaph beginning with these words: _"Here repose the remains
of the brave and upright General Blanchot,"_ &c. We think it not foreign to
the purpose, to publish a trait which will prove how far General Blanchot
carried his ideas of justice; every man, of sensibility, reads with
pleasure, the account of a good action, particularly when it belongs to an
hero of his own nation.

Some time before Senegal was given up to the English, St. Louis was
strictly blockaded, so that all communication with France was absolutely
impossible; in a short time the colony was short of all kinds of
provisions. The prudent general called an extraordinary council, to which
he invited all the chief inhabitants of the town, and the officers of
government. It was resolved not to wait till the colony was destitute of
provisions; and that, in order to hold out to the last extremity, all the
inhabitants, without distinction of colour, or of rank, should have only a
quarter of a ration of bread, and two ounces of rice or millet per day; to
execute this decree, all the provisions were removed into the government
magazines, and the general gave orders that it should be punctually
followed. Some days after these measures were taken, the governor,
according to his custom, invited the authorities to dine with him; it was
understood that every one should bring his portion of bread and of rice;
nevertheless, a whole loaf was served up on the governor's table. As soon
as he perceived it, he asked his servants who could have given orders to
the store-keeper to suspend, in respect to himself, the decree of the
general council? All the company then interfered, and said that the council
had never had any idea of putting him upon an allowance, and that he ought
to permit this exception. The General, turning to one of his aides-de-camp,
said: "go and tell the store-keeper, that I put him provisionally under
arrest, for having exceeded my orders; and you, gentlemen, know that I am
incapable of infringing on the means of subsistance of the unhappy slaves,
who would certainly want food, while I had a superfluous supply on my
table: learn that a French general knows how to bear privations, as well as
the brave soldiers under his command." During the short time of the
scarcity, which lasted four months, the General would never permit a larger
ration to be given to him, than that which came to the meanest slave; his
example prevented every body from murmuring, and the colony was saved.
While they were suffering the severest privations the harvest was
approaching, and, at length, delivered St. Louis from the scarcity. At the
same time, vessels arrived from France, and brought abundant supplies. But
soon after, the English returned to besiege St. Louis, and made themselves
master of it. Though this note has carried us rather away from our subject,
we would not pass over in silence, so honorable a trait; it is a homage
paid to the memory of the brave General Blanchot. We may add, that after
having been governor, during a long series of years, he died without
fortune. How few men do we find who resemble Blanchot?

[38] Every body knows the popular proverb, which very well
expresses our idea: "_That which is worth taking, is worth keeping_."

[39] It will hardly be believed to how many popular reports, these
100,000 francs have given rise. There are people who do not believe that
they were ever embarked on board the frigate. How do they explain this
supposition? It is by asking how the conduct of persons, who had sold the
interest of their country, and their honor, to foreign interests, would
have been different from that of certain persons? For our part, we do not
doubt but that this report is a fable. The folly, the pride, the obstinacy
which conducted us on the bank of Arguin, have no need of having another
crime added to them. Besides, if there are, sometimes, persons who sell
their honor, there are none who, at the same time, sell their lives; and
those whom people would accuse of something more than extreme incapacity,
have sufficiently proved in dangers which threatened themselves, that they
well knew how to provide for their own safety.

[40] Probably the cross of the legion of honor--T.

[41] These desertions are unhappily too frequent in naval history.
The _St. John the Baptist_ stranded in 1760 on the isle of Sables, where 87
poor people were abandoned, in spite of the promises to come and fetch
them, made by 320 of the shipwrecked persons, who almost all saved
themselves upon the island of Madagascar. Eighty negroes and negresses
perished for want of assistance, some of hunger, some in attempting to save
themselves upon rafts. Seven negresses and a child who lived there for
fifteen years, were exposed to the most terrible distresses, and were saved
in 1776 by Mr. de Trommelin, commanding the Dauphine corvette.

The Favorite, commanded by Captain Moreau, fell in with the island of Adu
in 1767; he sent a boat on shore with a crew of eight men, commanded by Mr.
Rivière, a navy officer, but Moreau abandoned them, because the currents
drove him towards the island; and he returned to the isle of France, where
he took no step to induce the government to send them assistance. The brave
Rivière and all his sailors succeeded in saving themselves on the coast of
Malabar, by means of a raft and his boat; he landed at Cranganor, near
Calicut.

One may conceive that at the first moment the presence of danger may
derange the senses, and that then people may desert their companions on
board a vessel; but not to go to their assistance, when the danger is
surmounted, not to hasten to fly to their relief, this is inconceivable.

[42] Persons whom we could name, divided the great flag, and cut
it up into table-cloths, napkins, &c. we mention with the distinction which
they deserve, Sophia, a negress belonging to the governor, and Margaret, a
white servant.

[43] They dined almost every day with the English officers; but in
the evening they were obliged to return to the fatal hospital, where an
infinite number of victims languished: if, by chance, one of the
convalescents failed to come, their generous and benevolent hosts sent to
the hospital, anxiously enquiring the cause of his absence.

[44] The affair of the coal-mine of Beaujon, as a journalist has
well observed, insures lasting celebrity to the name of the brave Goffin,
whose memory the French Academy has consecrated by a poetical prize; and
the city of Liege, by a large historical picture which has been publicly
exhibited.--Doubtless the devotedness of Goffin was sublime; but, Goffin
was only the victim of a natural accident, no sentiment of honour and duty,
had plunged him voluntarily into an imminent danger, as it had many of
those on the raft, and which, several of them might have avoided. Goffin,
accusing only fate and the laws of nature, to which we are subject, in
every situation, had not to defend his soul against all the odious and
terrible impressions of all the unchained passions of the human heart:
hatred, treachery, revenge, despair, fratricide, all the furies in short,
did not hold up to him their hideous and threatening spectres; how great a
difference does the nature of their sufferings, suppose in the souls of
those who had to triumph over the latter? and yet, what a contrast in the
results! Goffin was honored and, with justice; the men shipwrecked on the
raft, once proscribed, seem to be forever forsaken. Whence is that
misfortune so perseveringly follows them? Is it that, when power has been
once unjust, has no means to efface its injustice but to persist in it, no
secret to repair its wrongs, but to aggravate them?

[45] Three men saved from the raft, died in a very short time;
those who crossed the desert, being too weak to go to Daccard, were in
considerable numbers in this same hospital, and perished there
successively.

[46] Major Peddy had fought against the French in the Antilles and
in Spain; the bravery of our soldiers, and the reception given him in
France at the time of our disasters, had inspired him with the greatest
veneration for our countrymen, who had, on more than one occasion, shewn
themselves generous towards him.

[47] The Governor, who it seems did not like the sight of the
unfortunate, had, however, no reason to fear that it would too much affect
his sensibility. He had elevated himself above the misfortunes of life, at
least, when they did not affect himself, to a degree of impassibility,
which would have done honor to the most austere stoic and which, doubtless,
indicates the head of a statesman, in which superior interests, and the
thought of the public good, leave no room for vulgar interests, for mean
details, for care to be bestowed on the preservation of a wretched
individual. Thus, when the death of some unhappy Frenchman was announced to
him, this news no further disturbed his important meditations than to make
him say to his secretary, "Write, that Mr. such a one is dead."