TRADE OF KANKAN. 
265 
hardware. I also saw a good deal of white cloth, manu- 
factured m the Wassoulo ; earthen pots made in the country ; 
all kinds of provisions, such as rice, foigne, yams, cassava, 
&c. Fowls, sheep, oxen, and horses, are brought by the 
inhabitants of other countries. Fire-wood is also sold in 
this market by slaves, who by this traffic procure for them- 
selves a little salt, which is very dear, but is the principal 
article of barter. I observed that several merchants had 
gold, but they attached great value to it, and exchanged it 
for none but the choicest articles. All the dealers are pro- 
vided with small scales made in the country, and which 
appeared to be tolerably accurate. The seeds of a tree 
which grows in the Fouta-Dhialon, the name of which I 
have forgotten, are used for weights. These seeds are black 
and of the size and shape of corossol seeds, but rather 
heavier. A piece of gold of the weight of two of these 
seeds is worth six francs. The dealers are never deceived 
by their weights, which are as accurate as ours. The gold, 
which I saw in the Kankan, and which I was told came from 
the mines of Boure, was made into ear-rings of the value of 
six gourdes. There are also some worth twenty-five gourdes. 
I saw likewise gold in small grains, of the size of shot, and 
even less. These grains were usually kept in quills. Lam- 
fia told me in confidence that the merchants, who possess 
gold, conceal it in grigris covered with tanned hide, which 
they fasten round their necks or arms, by a leather thong. 
They adopt this precaution for fear of being robbed on their 
journeys. Since the theft which had been committed on me, 
I had become suspicious, and I never went out without 
adopting some precaution for the security of what I left 
behind me. Still I went twice a day to the mosque, that I 
might appear extremely pious, for I saw the necessity of 
blinding the negroes, some of whom were not well disposed 
towards me, and declared that 1 was a white. The Man- 
dingoes are certainly not fond of the whites, and they hold 
