BRIDGE OVER THETANKISSO. 219 
that Boubacar had succeeded him, that he had declared 
himself the protector of islamism, and enjoined the people to 
be faithful to him. The letter was written on both sides of 
a piece of paper, which was about three inches broad and five 
long. After it had been read, the messenger, without losing 
a moment's time, took up his dispatch, and proceeded in the 
direction of Baleya, whether he was to carry it. This pre- 
cipitate departure prevented me from copying the letter, to 
enable me afterwards to ascertain more precisely its contents. 
The chief said a prayer and invoked the favour of Heaven on 
the reign of the new almamy. Several Mandingoes followed 
his example, after which a long conversation took place on 
the divisions which distracted Fouta. Yayaye had retired with 
a party, in a way which gave reason to presume that peace 
would not continue long. After we had reached home, 
Ibrahim informed me that Yayaye on his return from Firya 
had not been well received by the leading men of Timbo, 
who had deposed him, in consequence of their disapprobation 
of the useless war in which he had engaged, and which had 
cost the country a number of men. 
In the morning of the 25th of May, after giving some 
cream of tartar to a negro, who had teazed me for several 
days with applications for medicine, I went with Ibrahim to 
see a bridge that was building over the Tankisso. On the 
road, I saw some Mandingoes beating the great drum, of 
which I have already spoken, to summon the labourers to 
their work. When we arrived at the bridge, I observed six or 
eight men lying by the side of the water, waiting for the 
arrival of others. I was informed that in the rainy season 
the water rises to the height of twenty-five or thirty feet. 
The branches which bar the passage are covered by this 
extraordinary swell, and I was assured that the bridge is often 
demolished and carried away by the current. The stream 
inundates the plain, from which a harvest of foigne is 
gathered before the rice is sown. All the workmen having 
