DISCOVERIES OF THE FRENCH. 189 
ren spots that this metal is found most abun- 
dantly. 
No steps were taken by the French administra- 
tion, in consequence of this journey of Compagnon. 
Such neglect did not proceed from any want of ac- 
tivity on the part of Brue, who submitted to the 
Company plan after plan. He first proposed, that 
the Farims should be conciliated, and permission 
gradually obtained to erect forts within the coun- 
try. When this method appeared too tedious to 
rouse attention, he proposed at once, that the whole 
should be conquered, and held in subjection ; an 
undertaking for which he judged twelve hundred 
troops to be sufficient. All these plans and repre- 
sentations failed of making any impression in the 
quarter to which they were addressed ; and Gal- 
lam continued still to be the farthest limit of French 
establishment in the interior of Africa. 
The governors of the Senegal, however, never 
lost sight of Bambouk, the penetrating into which 
formed, they were sensible, the only means by 
which their settlement could be raised to the 
rank of a first-rate colony. In 173©, 1731, and 
1732, it was visited by Messrs Levens, Pelays, and 
Legrand ; the former of whom was then governor of 
Senegal. In 1744, M. David, who also held that 
office, spent a few days in surveying some of its 
most interesting districts. He had succeeded in 
making himself beloved by all the chiefs of the 
