DISCOVERIES OF THE FRENCH- 20J 
that propensity to rapine, which they have in com- 
mon with all other negroes. The marabuts ear- 
nestly inculcate upon them the duty of stealing 
whatever they can from Christians ; and though 
careless as to other articles of the Mahometan 
creed, they cannot be accused of negligence in 
this one particular. The negroes here are either 
Christians or Mahometans ; or, more properly, 
both ; or, most properly, neither ; a piece of glass 
or iron being always sufficient to produce, if re- 
quired, an immediate conversion. 
Saugnier, finding the mercantile departments at 
Senegal in a great measure preoccupied, resolved 
to undertake in person the voyage to Gallam, 
which, being a rare and dangerous exploit, would, 
if successful, raise him to distinction. He set sail, 
accordingly, on the l6th August 1785, with a ves- 
sel of seventy tons, and a crew composed of ne- 
groes. He admits that his pursuits and turn of 
mind led him to pay little attention to objects of 
natural history ; so that the information collected 
by him is almost entirely commercial. After pass- 
ing Podor, he had some communication with Ad- 
met Moctar, chief of the Moorish tribe of Tra- 
sarts. . That prince, it appears, had formed a de- 
sign of surprising and seizing the vessel ; but not 
being aware that Saugnier understood Arabic, 
which he had learned in his captivity, he an- 
nounced his design in that language, while Saug- 
