S68 
MR PARK'S FIRST JOURNEY. 
Bambarrans, but related, that Jenne was entirely 
under the influence of the Moors, and only a no- 
minal part of the dominions of Bambarra. Mr Park, 
however, had proceeded too far to recede upon 
vague report, and resolved to verify it on the spot ; 
and, for this purpose, leaving Sego on the £3d, 
he advanced by Kabba to Sansanding. The ex- 
tensive city of Sego, the canoes with which the ri- 
ver was covered, the numerous population, and the 
improved state of cultivation in the beautiful coun- 
try which he traversed, presented a prospect of ci- 
vilization which recalled more forcibly to his me- 
mory the centre of England, than the ideas he had 
formed of the heart of Africa. The inhabitants 
of the country were occupied in collecting the fruit 
of the shea-tree, from which the vegetable butter 
is prepared, which forms a principal article of com- 
merce in the interior districts. The shea-tree, 
which resembles the American oak, is indigenous 
in Bambarra, and is left growing, when the wood- 
land is cleared. The butter is prepared from the 
kernel, which resembles a Spanish olive, and is en- 
closed in a sweet pulp, under a thin green rind. 
It is dried in the sun, and then boiled in water ; 
the butter is whiter, firmer, and better flavoured 
than that of milk. Sansanding contains nearly 
10,000 inhabitants, and is a considerable mart of 
Moorish commerce. Here Mr Park was mistaken 
for a Moor by the negroes, but was soon discover- 
1 
