June 27, 1859.] ADDITIONAL NOTICES. 379 



lips, and sparkling eyes, and, judging from the swarms of children, most 

 prolific ; they performed a native dance in compliment to me, wild enough, 

 and with gestures and movements most obscene and indecent, exceeding any 

 I had ever witnessed before in Africa. The " Sin " women, like their " Sallum " 

 neighbours, are celebrated for their good looks and licentiousness. 



The exports from *' Bur Sin " are gum, corn, rice, ground-nuts in small 

 quantities, lime, cattle, hides, ivory. A Bathurst merchant received recently 

 from Joal two elephants' teeth, each weighing 56 lbs. ; but commerce might 

 be vastly increased if a friendly feeling was cultivated and secured. 



Cattle, so much wanted in Bathurst, could be conveyed in droghers or 

 canoes, or driven overland through Sallum and Barra. African kings require 

 their produce to be sent for ; they say, " We have no time or people to 

 spare." 



The king resides in the interior, and pays a brief annual visit to Joal 

 to regulate the trade and customs ; on leaving for his capital, the huts occu- 

 pied by his Majesty and followers are burned, as no subject is worthy to 

 occupy them. 



One superstitious custom seems worthy of mention : in a group of trees 

 on the shore, 3 miles from Joal, stands a gigantic " baobab," or monkey bread- 

 tree (a landmark seen many miles at sea, which, if we credit Humboldt and 

 other savans, may be coeval with those ancient denizens of the Senegal forests, 

 upwards of five thousand years old). If the effigy, or a portion of the 

 garment, of any obnoxious person is put in this tree, and certain heathen 

 rites perfoi-med, the individual bewitched wastes away by slow degrees, and 

 finally perishes. 



Nor is this absurd idea confined to the Africans, but implicitly believed 

 by many French and British Jolloff families, who employ a messenger to 

 undo the incantation and remove the curse. I was gravely assured, with 

 every appearance of reliance in the truth of the story, a family named Vin- 

 cent, of " Goree," died one after another from the influence of the great gre- 

 gris-tree. 



I will no longer trespass on your time or attention by entering into 

 any more diffuse detail of this very interesting and, I love to hope, beneficial 

 expedition ; still, permit me to observe, the treaty I have made in no way 

 compromises her Majesty's Government, or involves more or less any responsi- 

 bility ; it is purely and solely a commercial and humane convention, one I 

 trust likely to insure protection and security to all traders, European or 

 American, who may be unfortunately driven on the shores of " Bur Sin." 



TJie Bight Bon. H. Lahouchere, ^ ^^^^' <^^-' 



&c. &c. L. Smyth O'Connor. 



8. Notes m an Expedition down the Western Coast of Africa to the 

 '' Bijuga Islands," and the recently discovered river Kittafiny, By- 

 Colonel L. Smyth O'Connor, c.b., f.e.g.s. 



Communicated by the Colonial Office. 



Government House, Bathurst, Gambia, 

 25th January, 1858. 

 Sib, — In connexion with my Despatch, 22nd December, 1857, I have now 

 the honour to transmit herewith a detailed Report of my recent Geogra- 

 phical Expedition down the coast to the " Bijuga Islands," and to a certain 

 extent up the " Kittafiny River," the supposed stronghold of a large slave- 

 dealing establishment. 



VOL. III. 2 F 



