i 
CHAPTER III. 
DISCOVERIES OF THE FRENCH. 
French African Companies. — J annequin. — First voyage of 
Brae ; the Siratik. — Second voyage of Brue ; Gallam ; 
Accounts of Bambarra and Tombuctoo. — Third voyage of 
Brue ; the Gum trade. — -Compagiwn ; BambouJc ; its Gold 
mines. — Adanson. — Saugnier. 
France * was not among the nations which distin- 
guished themselves early in the career of maritime 
discovery. The intestine broils by which she was 
long distracted, and her deep involvement in the 
politics of continental Europe, engrossed almost en- 
tirely the attention of her rulers. While the fleets 
of Portugal, of Holland, and of England, had ex- 
plored and colonized the shores of the most distant 
oceans, France could scarcely boast a possession 
beyond the limits of Europe. Louis XIV., how- 
ever ambitious of greatness of every description, 
* Some of the English voyages up the central rivers were 
earlier than any undertaken by the French. But it seems 
better to reserve them till the following chapter, when they 
will become connected with those recent travels in the inte- 
rior, which have been air performed by the English nation. 
