DAKAR — WHITTLESEY 391 



man, or the wind. This led to many illicit interments in Goree 

 cellars, a subterfuge objectionable on sanitary grounds. To solve 

 the problem, the authorities bought and enclosed a plot of land on the 

 slope above the sea at Bel Air Point. 



OCCUPATION OF THE HEADLANDS 



While the islanders were gradually defining their relations with 

 the peninsula, attempts were being made to occupy or control the 

 Cape, independent of the interests of Goree. 



A serious hazard to trade on the West African coast was the danger 

 of shipwreck, as a result of heavy surf, low offshore islands, and 

 submerged reefs. The African fishermen avidly picked up whatever 

 flotsam came their way and made a practice of holding survivors for 

 ransom. The bays on the north side of the head were particularly 

 dangerous for shipping, and the villagers there were too far away 

 across marshes and sandy plain to be intimidated by the small garri- 

 son at Goree. From the reestablishment of French suzerainty after 

 Napoleon's downfall until the indigenes were brought under control 

 by effective occupation of the peninsula, the issue was never at rest, 

 treaties notwithstanding. 



The Napoleonic Wars had taught the French military and naval 

 establishment that Goree was no longer safe from attack by rival 

 European powers. From 1816 on they urged fortification of the two 

 Mamelles and Dakar Point. They asserted that an enemy on the 

 peninsula headlands could deprive Goree of fuel, food, and water. 



All friction incidental to extraneous matters was made a pretext 

 for urging a garrison. Thus, when trouble arose between natives and 

 men getting water at Hann and searching for wood on the mainland, 

 the commandant at Goree hoped it would give occasion to seize the 

 lieadlands, which "protect the island and vice versa." " So also when 

 members of a Catholic mission on the mainland were captured. 



The abolition of slavery in French possessions (1848) complicated 

 the relations of France and Senegal. The law was enforced on Goree, 

 but the indigenes of the peninsula paid no attention to it. This was 

 also cited as a reason for the establishment of a garrison. 



Civilian attempts at settlement on the peninsula had proved 

 unsuccessful. The most noted essay was an agricultural colony sent 

 out to Dakar Point by a French society in 1817. The camp was still 

 incomplete when rainy-season storms destroyed it. Many were seized 

 with dysentery. Ten men were accepted for the garrison at Goree; 

 others went to Saint-Louis or the Southern Rivers ; several returned 



^ Gafflot, op. cit., p. 137. 



