DISCOVERIES OF THE FRENCH. 205 
have doubted, that it was a ball at which they were 
performing. 
In the year 1753, Adanson began to think of 
returning to France. He made, however, a final 
journey to Podor, in which nothing remarkable oc- 
curred. On his return to the coast he was attack- 
ed by a dangerous fever, from which he fortunately 
recovered, and set sail from the road of Senegal on 
the 6th September 1753. 
In 1783, a Frenchman of the name of Saugnier 
set out on a commercial adventure to the coast of 
Africa. He does not appear to have departed in the 
best humour, having quarrelled with all his relations* 
and been reduced to a state of extreme indigence- 
His views were not cheered by the occurrences of 
the voyage, in the course of which he was ship- 
wrecked on the coast of the Sahara, and detained 
for several years as a captive. The scenes through 
which he then passed, will be noticed when we 
come to treat of that part of Africa. He was ran- 
somed, and returned to France. But pecuniary 
distress still pressing upon him, he found no re- 
source but in following up his original intention, 
and embarked for the Senegal. He arrived at the 
mouth of the river on the 13th June 1785. He 
passed the bar amid the same peril and terror 
which Adanson had experienced, and landed on 
the isle of Senegal. He inveighs bitterly against 
