186 
IRN ANKE. 
rock, we came to a mountain about five or six hundred or- 
dinary paces high. It is called by the natives Touma, and 
it separates the country of Irnanke from the Fouta-Dhialon. 
We rested for a short time on its summit. My companions 
assured me that the road thence to Cambaya, my guide's 
village, vrould be better than the preceding part of our jour- 
ney. I observed in this neighbourhood some very fine in- 
digo, and some bombaces which rivalled in size the enormous 
baobabs on the banks of the Senegal. 
The country of Irnanke lies to the west of the Fouta, 
and to the east of Kakondy. It has on the north the negroes 
who inhabit the neighbourhood of Casamance ; and on the 
south the Timannee negroes, who occupy a tract of country 
not far from Sierra-Leone. Irnanke is studded with lofty 
mountains, and inhabited by pastoral Foulahs. They possess 
fine flocks, which are their principal wealth. The com- 
plexion of these Foulahs is a lightish chesnut colour ; they 
have good countenances, high foreheads, aquiline noses, and 
thin lips, and their heads are somewhat of an oval shape. 
The only point in which they resemble the Mandingoes is 
their curly hair. They hold themselves very upright, and walk 
with an air of dignity ; for they think themselves far superior 
to the other negro tribes. Their dress, like that of the 
Mandingoes, is exceedingly simple ; it consists of a coussabe, 
or shirt, of white cloth, of their own manufacture, and a pair 
of trowsers. The trowsers are made of coarse cloth ; they 
are very wide, and confined round the waist by means of a 
buckle 5 they reach about half-way down the leg, where they 
are left loose. A cap of the same material completes the 
costume. When these negroes travel, they are armed with 
bows and poisoned arrows, and they also carry lances. 
They rub their bodies all over with butter, and they put a 
great deal upon their heads, which occasions a very dis- 
^ agreeable smell. The women take remarkable pains in 
dressing their heads. They plait their hair and adorn it with 
various glass trinkets. They wear amber necklaces, and their 
