THE EAKTH. Ijl 



Senegal has likewise iti inuiidatiors, wliich cover the whole 

 flat coiintry of Negrolaiul, beginning and ending much about the 

 same time with those of the Nile ; as, in fact, both riveis rise 

 from the same mountains. But the diifeienee between the ef- 

 fects of the inundations in each river is remarkable : in the one, 

 it distributes health and plenty ; in the other, diseases, famine, 

 and death. The inhabitants along the torrid coasts of the 

 Senegal, can receive no benefit from any additiynal manure the 

 river may carry down to their soil, which is by nature more than 

 sufficiently luxiu'iant ; or, even if they could, they have not in- 

 dustry to turn it to any advantage. The banks, therefore, of 

 the rivers, lie uncultivated, overgrown with rank and noxious 

 herbage, and infested with thousands of animals of various ma- 

 lignity. Every new ti o I only tends to increase the rankness 

 of the soil, and to f)rovide fresh shelter for the creatures that 

 infest it. If the flood continues but a few d.iys longer than 

 usual, the improvident inhabitants, who are driven up in tlit 

 higher grounds, waiit provisions, and a famitle ensues. When 

 the river begins to return into its channel, the humidity and heat 

 of the air are equally fatiil ; and the carcases of infinite mim- 

 bers of animals, swept av/ay by the inundation, putreiying in the 

 sun, produce a stench that is almost insupportable. But even 

 the luxuriance of the vegetation becomes a nuisance. I have 

 been assured, by persons of veracity who have been up the rivet 

 Senegal, that there are some plants growing along the coast, the 

 smell of which is so powerfui, that it is hardly to be endured. 

 It is certain, rli.-.t all the sailors and soldiers who have been at 

 any of our lactcnies there, asciibe the unwholesomeness of the 

 voyage up the stieam, to tlie vegetable vapour. However this 

 be, the inundations of the rivers in this wretched part of the 

 globe, contribute scarce any advantage, if we except the beauty 

 of the prospects which they afford. These, indeed, are finished 

 beyond the utmost reach of art : a spacious glassy river, with its 

 banks here and there fringed to the very surface by the man- 

 grove-tree, that grows do«n into the water, presents itself to 

 view ; lofty forests of various colours, with openings between, 

 carpeted with green plants, and the most gaudy flowers ; beasts 

 and animals, of various kinds, that stand upon the banks of tlie 

 rivers, and, with a sort of wild curiosity, survey the mariners as 

 they pass, contribute to heighten the scene. This is the sketch 



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