GOLBERRY’S. TRAVELS IN AFRICAs 
Golberry doing homage to the superior 
genius of the English; perpetually. re- 
gretting the commercial inertness of his 
own government, he acknowledges with 
a sigh the spirit of industry and research, 
the enterprize and activity of our coun- 
trymen. ~He is extremely anxious to 
enlarge the limits of the government of 
Senegal; he would have the supreme 
admjnistration of it situated in the island 
of St. Louis, and thinks that its influ- 
ence might be extended. over.all that 
portion of-western Africa, which is com- 
prehended: between the thirtieth and for- 
tieth degree of north latitude, and be- 
tween the Atlantic ocean and the thirtieth 
of longitude.of the island of Ferro.* 
The advantages which would result to 
France from such an extension. of ter- 
ritory are enlarged on, and a plan is 
chalked out, considerably in detail, for 
the establishment of factories, com- 
mercial intercourse, and government. 
Golberry. says that the precipitate abo- 
lition of slavery, and the slave-trade. of 
the blacks, has reduced the French af- 
fairs in Africa almost. to nothing: to 
re-establish them, therefore, it will be 
necessary to discover new sources of 
commercial wealth, and to direct their 
stream towards the coasts. He wishes 
the slave-trade to-be put under some 
better ‘regulations, but can scarcely 
check his just indignation in deploring the 
consequences of * those cruel theories’? 
—referring to the “chiefs of a sect” 
which arose in London and Paris; for 
the purpose of abolishing slavery,— 
*‘ which have caused so many misfor- 
tunes, so much destruction; and which 
have cost such deiuges of blood and 
tears.” It is curious enough that in a 
few pag’es afterwards, (vol. II. p. 240 
et seq.) M. Golberry should represent 
these Africans, whom hedooms toslavery 
with so much complacency, as the hap- 
piest set of people in the world. 
-“ The climate and character of the African 
dlacks, assimilate in such a manner, as to 
render them singularly happy. 
** Gifted with a carelessness, which is to- 
tally unique, with an extreme agility, indo- 
lence, sloth, and great sobriety; the negro 
exists on his ‘native soil, in the sweetest 
apathy, unconscious of want, or the pain 
ef privation, tormented neither with the 
cares of ambition, nor with the devouring 
ardour of desire.” — ; 
23 
After a description of this mode: of 
life, he continues: wh 
«‘ Thus all the wants and pleasures.of a 
negro are gratified without oecasioning to 
him the léast trouble either of mind or body; 
his’ séul hardly ever rouses itself from its 
quiet and: peaceful indolence; all’ violent 
passions, inquietudes, and ‘fears are almost 
unknown to him; his fatalism makes him 
neither hope nor dread. any event; he never 
murmuts, but submits, to all, and his lite 
passes in.unruffled calmness, in voluptucus 
indolence, which constitutes hts supreme 
pleasure; hence we may reckon the negio 
among the most favoured and happy produc~ 
tions of nature.” . 
So much for Mr. Golberry’s refined 
ideas of human happiness! 
The most interesting chapters in this 
work are those which. give.an account 
of the gold mines of Bambouk, and of 
the gum, and gum-trade of Senegal; 
these are really curious, and the latter 
particularly so. 
The gold mines of Bambouk are a 
national property, over which the kings 
or farims have no other personal au- 
thority than that of watching over and 
protecting them: the inhabitants work 
those which are situated within their © 
own territory. The country of Bam- 
bouk is represented as being strictly an 
auriferous earth; but the four principal 
minés are those of Natakon, Semayla, 
Nambia, and Kombadyrie. The work- 
ing of the mines is carried on during 
the eight months of dry weather, and 
ceases when the rainy season commences. 
As all the gold is obtained by ablution, 
those blacks who best understand the 
method of working it obtain the greatest 
quantity of gold. ‘They obtain it ‘by 
digging pits about six feet in diameter, 
and varying in depth from thirty to 
forty feet. The earth is brought up by 
baskets, taken to. a rivulet, and under- 
goes a thorough-ablution. When they 
have dug about-four feet deep, they 
meet with a fat argiliaceous earth, in- 
termingled with small-grams of iron’ 
ore, of loadstone, and emery, all which 
are covered with ‘little particles ‘and 
spangles of gold. All the rivulets of 
the valley of Natakon convey gold with 
their water; the sands and mud which 
form the bed of them are also full of 
the same metal; the soil composing the 
bed of the Colez-Rio-d’oro produces a 
* Throughout the work the jsland of Ferro is generally adopted asa first meridian —Rx. 
