SENEGAL 



Senegal, a river of Africa, which rifes in the interior of 

 the country, and runs, after a winding courfe, into the 

 Atlantic. It tikes its rife by various ftreams in a chain ot 

 mountains, fituated, according to Mr. Park's difcovenes, 

 between the sth and 9th dc^rrees of weft longitude, and 

 direAs its courfe toward, the N.W. Withm the fame 

 fpace a-e the fources of the Gambia, which runs to the 

 W.N.W., and thofe of the JoUba or Niger flowing towards 

 the E.N.E. A large portion of the tracl bordering on the 

 northern foot of the mountains, whence the branches of the 

 Senegal river iffue, is covered with thick forcfts. One part 

 of this traa is denominated the Jallonka wildernefs, in which 

 no habitations are to bo leen during nine days of forced 

 marching. Tiie head of the principal branch of the Sene- 

 gal is about 80 geographical miles W. of that of the Joliba ; 

 and the head of the Gambia is about 100 miles W. of the 

 Senegal. The branches of the latter are very numeiou-;, 

 and interfeft the country for about 200 miles from E. to W., 

 in the line of the caravan route. In Mr. Park's judgment, 

 the Senegal river, below the falls of F'low, or Feloe,a3 

 Labat calls it, was about the bulk of the Tweed at Melrofs 

 in fummer ; but this was in the dry feafon, or Chriftmas ; 

 and as tiie river docs not fwell periodically, till many months 

 after that, Mr. Park did not fee it at its loweft pitch. 

 And yet this was the affemblage of all the rivers, the 

 Faleme excepted, which was itfelf about three feet deep 

 at the fame feafon. But the Senegal is even fordable in 

 fome places before the conflux of the Faleme, according to 

 Labat ; for the Moors crofs it in the dry feafon, and commit 

 depredations on fome of the lands to the fouth. However, 

 almoft all the towns and villages are placed on the fouth 

 fide, with a view of being in fecurity for the longeft poflible 

 term. The Senegal river is then by no means a very capital 

 ftream, except in the rainy feafon ; when, like all the other 

 tropical rivers, its bed is filled, and it very commonly over- 

 flows. Mr. Park obferved, by the mark of the higheft 

 point of fwelhng of the river Kokaro, or eatlern branch of 

 the Senegal, that it had been twenty feet higher than when 

 )ie croffed it, in the line of the fouthern route. The main 

 branch of this river, the Ba-fing, or Black river, was not 

 fordable, and was croffed over a temporary bridge of a very 

 fnigular conltruftion. Alligators and crocodiles are found 

 in all thefe rivers, at the height at which Mr. Park palled 

 them. The Faleme river has a remote fource, and drains 

 a great extent of country. The great body of the river 

 Senegal is precipitated from the upper level, containing the 

 political divifions of Manding, Jallonkadu, Fooladu, Kaflbn, 

 Gadon, and fome other fmaller ftates, to the intermediate 

 one ; thus forming the falls of Govinea. The intermediate 

 level contains Bambouk, Konkadoo, Satadoo, Dentila, and 

 fome others, and is bounded on the S.W. by the great flope 

 of country at Kirwanney, when the waters firfl. begin to flow 

 towards tiie W. On the N.W. it is bounded by the great 

 defcent which forms the fccond or lower fall of the Senegal 

 river, named F'low. This fall is about 30 miles below 

 Govinea, 48 above fort St. Joleph ; and here the river, 

 being arrived at the loweft level of the country, continues 

 navigable, with little interruption, to the fea. The Faleme 

 river, of courfe, mull run on a far lower level than the other 

 heads of the Senegal river. The diftance between Koonia- 

 karry in Kalfon, lat. 14'^ 34', and the Senegal river, 13 

 miles, pointstoaW.N.W. courfe, or thereabouts, of the river 

 between the falls ; not much diff^erent from its general courfe, 

 lower down. But as the Ba-fing, or principal arm of the 

 river, muft run almoft direftly to the N. from the place 

 where Mr. Park crofled it, in Jallonkadu, it is highly pro- 

 bable that the two great branches unite at no great diftance 



above the upper fall : the fame ridge of mountains that oc- 

 cafion the fall, may, perhaps, occafion ajuMdion of the dif- 

 ferent ftreams above it. Thefe falls are faid by Labat tc 

 be from 30 to 40 toifes perpendicular, or 180 to 240 French 

 feet. The Senegal, in its courfe, feparates the two coun- 

 tries of Kajaaga and Kaffon. 



Within fix "miles of the fea, the river in its courfe takes a 

 fudden turn to the fouth, and for the remainder of its paf- 

 fage is divided from the fea only by a natural ridge of fand, 

 fometimes not icra toifes over. By this curve it prolongs 

 its courfe for 75 miles farther, from north to fouth, till at 

 length it difcharges itfelf into the ocean, in N. lat. 15° 50' 

 This great river feparates the country of the Negroes from 

 the Moors of Sahara, or the Defert, ftretching by a number 

 of windings to a prodigious length, from eaft to weft. The 

 extreme rapidity of this river is attributed to the fpace pafled 

 through bv fo large a body of water, confined within fo 

 narrow a channel ; the mouth of it being no more than a 

 mile and a half over, and that choaked up with fand, called 

 a bar, which renders the pafl'age exceedingly difficult and 

 dangerous This bar is doubly dangerous, on account not 

 only of the fhallownefs of the water at all times, but the 

 (hiftir.tr of the bar, and the change of its fituation after 

 floods and heavy rains, by which the channels are loft, and 

 new foundings requifite to difcover them ; indeed the Sene- 

 gal would be quite fhut up, but for one channel of 200 

 toifes in breadth, and two fathoms depth, which has long 

 kept its fituation immoveable, amidft the floods and over- 

 flowings of the river. This bar prevents fliips of 500 

 tons from entering the river, and mooring under the fort ; 

 an inconvenience that obliged the French company to keep 

 a veil'el conftantly at anchor in the chatinel, for no other 

 purpofe than to keep an account of the foundings. The 

 moft commodious time of the year for crofting the bar, is 

 from the month of January till Auguft, the winds being 

 then variable, the river fmooth, and the bar fixed till the 

 enfuing rainy feafon, when the prodigious fwell of the 

 river, and fouth-weft winds, oppofed to its rapid courfe, 

 raife waves of fo prodigious height at the b.ir, that their 

 clafliing refembles the ftiock of mountains, and fo furious, 

 as to daih in pieces the ftouteft ftiip. After crofting the 

 bar, it becomes a beautiful, fmooth, and gently ghding 

 river, at four fathoms depth. In advancing three miles 

 higher, the country on the fouth fide is clothed wi'h a 

 beautiful verdure, the trees in perpetual bloom, than which 

 nothing can form a more agreeable contraft to the dry, 

 fandy, and barren points of land, that firft prefent themfelves 

 to the ftiipping. All around it lie a great number of 

 iflands, pleafantly flocked with trees, fruits, herbage, and 

 birds, but appropriated to no ufe, except the ifland of 

 Senegal. 



Fort St. Louis, at the mouth of the Senegal river, accord- 

 ing to the obfervations and refults of M. D'Anville and M. 

 Fleurieu, is placed in lat. 16' 5' (by D'Anville), long. 16° 8' 

 by Fleurieu : and Cape Verd in lat. 14° 48', long. 17" 34' 

 W. of Greenwich. By the treaty of 1783, the river of 

 Senegal and its dependencies were left in the poflfeflTion of 

 the French, who had extended their fadories above 500 

 miles from the ftiore. In 17S4 was founded the company 

 of the gum of Senegal, which obtained an exclufive privilege 

 of trading in gum, flaves, gold-duft, ivory, wax, and other 

 produfts of the river Senegal, and dependencies, from Cape 

 Blanco to Cape Verd. Goree was chofen as the refideiice 

 of the adminiftrators. In 1 791 this company was fupprefl'ed 

 by the national affembly, and the trade with Senegal 'was 

 declared free. 



The Moors chiefly gather the gum in the three forefts of 

 10 Sokel, 



