DISCOVERIES OF THE FRENCH. 
197 
try in every direction. Adanson, accordingly, set 
out for the interior, but found his progress oppos- 
ed by such obstacles, as only his inextinguishable 
zeal for science could have surmounted. The 
track by which he went, through the high road of 
the country, was so neglected and overgrown with 
vegetation, that it was often impossible to pene- 
trate, unless on all-fours. The underwood con- 
sisted frequently of thorns, which, besides their 
action on the skin, seldom permitted him to pass, 
without levying heavy contributions on the slight 
cotton fabrics in which he was clad. At other 
times, he walked over sands, where the feet sunk 
to the ancle, and which might justly be called 
burning, since they were above 60 degrees (of 
Reaumur) at a time when the ambient air was only 
22 in the shade. When the heat was intense, the 
effects became terrible ; the shoes grew first tough 
like horn, then cracked, and finally mouldered in- 
to dust ; the feet were thus left defenceless. An 
obstacle, which appeared at first still more insur- 
mountable, lay in the marigots, or creeks, running 
into the Senegal, by which the road was frequent- 
ly crossed. His negro attendant, however, caught 
him in his arms, and running into the water, though 
it took him up to the breast, passed it with the 
same velocity as if he had been engaged in a race. 
Thus he reached the village of Sor, and found a 
reception so hospitable, as removed all his preju- 
