DISCOVERIES OF THE FRENCH. 151 
natives, to erect huts, which might shelter them 
from the pernicious influence of the air. Slight 
as the structure was, it constituted a severe labour 
to men unused to the climate, and left, while the 
building went on, unsheltered beneath the influ- 
ence of a burning sun. 
As soon as the arrival of an European vessel be- 
came known, ambassadors repaired thither from tho 
Darnel and the Brak, the two most potent so- 
vereigns in this part of Africa. Presents were 
exchanged, and commercial arrangements speedily 
agreed upon. The party then began to ascend 
the Senegal. They were struck with admiration 
at the perpetual verdure which reigned upon its 
banks, and the beautiful trees by which they were 
adorned. All the forests were filled with echoes, 
which the author ascribes to the depth of the sur- 
rounding solitude. The trees, however, shooting 
out a number of small roots from the trunk, ren- 
dered the ground almost impervious. Whenever 
they came to a village, the chiefs gave them a 
hearty welcome, and the inhabitants came out with 
alacrity to trade. The principal monarchs, through 
whose territory they passed, were the Darnel, king 
of the Jalofs ; the Brak, king of the Foulis ; the 
Kamalingo, king of the Moors of Barbary ; and the 
Samba Lamma, whom he terms king of the Moors 
and Barbarians, and whose territory is said to have 
