386 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1942 



stones ferried from the offshore islet. The island gives a slight pro- 

 tection from the surf, and behind it the native boats are launched and 

 beached, thus explaining the location of the village on an otherwise 

 uniform coast. When not in use, the skiffs are perched on animal 

 skulls to prevent burial by drifting sand. On the beach a commodious 

 shelter shades the somnolent fishermen during the heat of the day, 

 while in the village above them the women are vigorously threshing 

 and grinding millet and winnowing beans (pi. 1, upper right). This 

 community has some poor millet fields behind the dunes, but it must 

 supplement its supply by exchanging some of its fish. 



A different type of village is Ouakam, among baobabs near the 

 Mamelles. There an expanse of low fixed dunes moistens the most 

 extensive arable land w^est of Sangalkam. Millet, squashes, beans, 

 and a little tree cotton surround the village and yield an agricultural 

 surplus to exchange for fish. 



THE EARLY EUROPEAN OCCUPANCE 

 PORTS OF SENEGAMBIA 



With the coming of Europeans, the Cape Verde Peninsula ceased 

 to be merely a sandy offshoot of the African continent and became 

 also the westernmost extension of the coasting route between Europe 

 and East and South Asia. For mariners it marked also the southern 

 terminus of the waterless Sahara coast. The first recorded voyage 

 reported a stop for fresh water at the outlet of seepage from a long 

 line of fixed dunes. This place the Portuguese later christened Rio 

 Fresco (Rufisque) and made it a regular port of call. Food supplies 

 were scarce on the peninsula, and anchorages were subject to storms. 

 Hence for 500 years this neighborhood failed to gain decisive hegemonj^ 

 over its rivals. 



Cape Verde stands midway between the two obvious, nature-made 

 avenues for penetrating the Sudan. To the south the Gambia River 

 opens a broad estuary easily entered at all seasons by ships of moder- 

 ate draft. This was early occupied by the English, and for political 

 reasons has remained little used as a means of access to the hinterland. 

 To the north a lagoon at the mouth of the Senegal River makes a 

 safe harbor ; but during the long dry season the shrunken stream can 

 maintain barely enough water for small sailing craft over the bar 

 built across its mouth by a south-setting current. In spite of this 

 handicap, the protected anchorage, an easily defended townsite, and 

 access to the interior by river boat at all seasons made Saint-Louis, the 

 river-mouth port founded by the French, a rival of the Cape Verde 

 district until a generation ago. 



Between the Senegal River and Cape Verde the coast is useless 

 for a European port, because of shallow sea, dunes, and heavy surf. 



