74 FRENCH DISCOVERIES. 



Many adventurers, after being induced by high bribes to un- 

 dertake the journey, successively declined the enterprise. 

 At length one Compagnon, laden with valuable presents, 

 ventured to pass the boundary, and by his address succeeded 

 in conciliating the inhabitants of the nearest village. A 

 general alarm, however, spread through the country, when 

 It was known that there was a white man within its pre- 

 cincts ; and representations were sent, that, according to 

 the ancient salutary laws, he should forthwith be put to 

 death; — ^yet Compagnon, by presents and address, suc- 

 ceeded in making his way from village to village. He con- 

 trived to visit the principal districts, and even to carry off a 

 portion of the ghingan, or golden earth, which forms the 

 pride and wealth of Bambouk. Brue then transmitted to 

 France various projects, and among others that of conquer- 

 ing the country, which he undertook to effect with 1200 

 men ; but such a degree of apathy prevailed at home, that 

 none of these propositions made any impression. Subse- 

 quent governors, however, directed their attention to the 

 same subject : two of them, Levens and David, even visited 

 Bambouk in person ; but no attempt was ultimately made 

 either to conquer or to form settlements in that part of Africa. 

 Indeed, though cither step might have been successful in the 

 first instance, the possession of such a territory would in the 

 end have proved both costly and precarious. 



From the accounts thus received, and which have been 

 collected by Mr. Golberry, Bambouk appears to consist of a 

 mass of lofty, naked, and barren mountains, and to contain 

 scarcely any treasures, except those which are hid in the 

 bowels of the earth. Besides, it is in the most arid and 

 dreary spot of this gloomy region that the gold is found. 

 Several hills in different quarters, not very high, but of con- 

 siderable extent, have the same metallic substance distri- 

 buted throughout, under the form of grains, spangles, and 

 even of small lumps, which are always found larger in pro- 

 portion to the depth of the bed. In the mine of Natakon 

 the ore is mixed with earth, from which the precious dust is 

 extracted by continued agitation in water ; or it adheres to 

 fragments of iron, emery, and lapis lazuli, whence it is 

 easily detached. In the mine of Semayla, on the contrary, 

 it is imbedded in a hard reddish loam, mixed with other sub- 

 etances still harder, from which it can be extracted only by 



