VEGETABLE BUTTER. 329 
by the inhabitants^ as they prefer selling it. This butter is 
tolerably good ; but it is necessary to cook it with the food 
with which it is eaten^ otherwise its flavour is not very 
agreeable. The natives use it for pains and sores. I have 
seen in the country a tree, which like the ce produces a 
butyraceous substance ; it is called by the natives taman. 
The butter of this tree is of a yellow colour, like ours. It 
is firm, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, and does not 
contract any bad flavour. 1 liked it better than the butter 
of the ce, which is less firm, and of an ash colour. How- 
ever, the natives assured me that the produce of the ce is 
more wholesome than that of the taman, and I saw many 
who would not eat the latter, alleging that it made them ill. 
For my part, I frequently ate it and never experienced any 
bad effect from it. 
The Mandingoes of this part of Africa have more re- 
sources for food than the negroes who inhabit the neighbour- 
hood of the Senegal, who have, in fact nothing but millet. 
Their food too is better cooked, and, excepting salt, which 
they have a great deal of trouble to obtain, they possess all 
that is necessary for supporting life ; yams, maize, rice, 
honey, foigne, beans, giraumons, and pistachios, grow abun- 
dantly in this happy land : on the Senegal, on the other hand, 
all these things are wanting, though salt is easily procured. 
The expence of cultivation in this part of the country is low. 
The slaves merely break up the surface of earth, to destroy 
the weeds, and the seed is then sown. In planting yams, 
the ground is trenched up, for the root does not thrive well 
in a level soil. Every thing grows here very rapidly. The 
soil, which is composed of excellent black sandy mould, is 
fertilized alternately by the rains and the tropical heat, not 
less than by the numerous streams which wind through every 
part of the country; thus the land rewards with interest 
the labour of the husbandman. The foigne, which is sown 
during the month of May, is gathered in July. This grain 
