364 
DIOUMI^lGUE. 
off their backs, and the negroes were obliged to push them 
forward to make them advance. At length we entered the 
village of Zangouirire, which contains from three to four 
hundred inhabitants, of the Bambara race, the only people 
met with on this road as far as Jenne. We continued our 
journey over a level country : the soil was fertile, and com- 
posed of grey sand, mixed with black earth. We had a chain 
of low hills both to the right and left of our road. Every 
minute the asses were throwing off their loads, which caused 
great trouble and delay. Among the female slaves who 
accompanied our caravan, I observed with pain, girls of 
twelve or fifteen years old carrying heavy loads of colats 
on their heads. The poor creatures were unable to endure 
the fatigue, and sometimes let their burthens fall. The heat 
was excessive, and an easterly wind annoyed us extremely ; 
we had, however, the comfort every now and then of get- 
ting some water to quench our thirst. In about an hour 
and a half, we arrived at Dioumiegue, having travelled nine 
miles. The women belonging to the caravan had gone a 
little in advance, and prepared dinner for the men, who had 
no sooner came up, than they fell to eating, and then they lay 
down to rest themselves. The people came in crowds to 
look at me. They appeared very gentle and refrained from 
importuning me. Some of them made my guide presents of 
yams, which we ate for supper ; others gave him colat-nuts. 
In the village I observed many small herds of oxen and cows. 
The latter are not milked. 
We quitted Dioumiegue on the 1 1th of January, at six 
o'clock in the morning, after paying our passage -money to 
the chief. We kept to the east along a very fertile plain, where 
I perceived some husbandmen planting yams. Leaving the 
plain, we crossed a chain of hills, composed of large blocks 
of granite, intermixed with white quartz, veined with bright 
rose-colour. We crossed many small rivulets, which made 
a thousand windings in the passes of the mountains. We 
