_ 304 
“Account of the Island of Senegal*. 
From Saugnier's and Brisson's Voy- 
age to the Coast of Africa, 
HIS island, properly speaking» 
is only a bank of sand in the 
middle of the river. It is a thousand 
geometrical paces long, and about 
sixty in its greatest widih ; is almost 
on a level with the river and with 
the sea, being defended from the 
latter by Barbary Point, which is of 
greater elevation than the colony. 
The eastern branch of the river is the 
more considerable of the two, being 
about four hundred toises across; the 
western branch is only from fifty to 
two hundred toises wide. The isle 
consists entirely of burning sands, 
on the barren surface of which you 
sometimes meet with scattered flints, 
thrown out among their ballast by 
vessels coming from Goree; or with 
the ruins of buildings formerly erect- 
ed by Europeans. There is scarcely 
such a thing as a garden upon the 
island, European seeds in general 
not thriving here. Jt is not surpris- 
ing that the soil is so unproductive; 
for the air is strongly impregnated 
with sea-salt, which pervades every 
thing, and consumes even iron in a 
very short space of time. The heats 
are excessive, and rendered still 
more insupportable by the reflection 
of the sand; so that from ten in the 
morning until four in the afternoon, 
it is almost impossible to do any 
work. During the months of Jana- 
ary, February, March, and April, 
the heats are moderated; but in Au- 
gust, and in the following ones, they 
become so oppressive as to affect 
even the natives themselves, What 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1702. 
1 dee 4 
effect then mist they have upon the 
Europeans, suddenly transported,un- 
to this burning climate! The nights 
are little less. sultry; not . always, 
however, but only, when the sea- 
breeze sets in. It is then that the 
inhabitants of the colony breathe a 
fresher air, for which they, have 
been longing the whole of the day; 
but .this air, in our climate, would 
seem a burning vapour. The nights 
are nevertheless troublesome, not- 
withstanding the comfortsof the sea- 
breeze. The instant the sun:is set, 
we are assailed by. an infinity of 
goats, which are cailed musquitos; 
their stings are very painful, and 
their multitudes incredible. The 
inhabitants find but a poor defence 
in their gauze curtains. For my 
own part, accustomed as I had been 
to Jive among the Moors, I was but 
little annoyed by these insects:— 
being halfa savage, I felt no desire 
to recommend myself to the favour- 
able regard of the fair sex, and I was 
therefore under no: necessity of tak- 
ing care of my person. In imitation 
of my former masters,,I smeared 
myself with butter; and this expe- 
dient preserved meat all times from 
these impertinent stingers, these 
spiteful enemies to the repose of 
the human kind. 
If the prospect of Senegal is not 
agreeable to the eye, much Jess are 
its environs, which are covered over 
only with sand, and over-run with 
mangles. It may be said, without 
exaggeration, that. there is not a 
more forlorn situation to be found 
on. the face of the inhabited globe, 
or a place in which the common — 
necessaries of life are procured with 
el 
* For an account of the source and course of the Senegal river, and of the va- 
rious settlements, by different European nations, on the banks of it, see Annual 
Register, vol. I. p. 75. 
greater 
ee 
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