T A N G R E R A. 
379 
the passage money is usually received ; but when we arrived, 
the officers came round to collect the duties. The masked 
officer looked at me with astonishment, and pointing at me 
with his finger, asked the other travellers, who the white 
man was. He continued pointing at me until I was at a 
considerable distance from him, as if he could not recover 
from his surprise. 
About six o'clock on the morning of the 19th of 
January, we set off, taking a north-easterly direction. We 
travelled about seven miles over a soil composed of a mix- 
ture of sand and gravel j but very fertile. I remarked 
several fields which had been recently sown. The country 
is very open. On the road we found at least three hundred 
persons going to the market of Tangrera, where we arrived 
about nine in the morning. At at little distance from the 
village I saw a man dressed precisely like the officer of 
customs, whom I had seen the day before at Syenso. He 
pointed at me with his finger and seemed as much astonished 
as the other had been. The negroes threw cowries to him, 
which he counted very carefully, and when the payments 
were incorrect he seemed very much disposed to use his 
whip. Tangrera is resorted to by numbers of strangers and 
is a place of active trade, so that the duties levied by the 
chief on merchandise produce a considerable revenue. 
Every day a vast concourse of people repair to the market, 
which is also visited by caravans from the south, as well as 
from Sego, Yamina, and Kayaye. They bring salt, which 
they exchange for colat-nuts and the cloth of the country. 
Tangrera is a sort of entrepot for these goods. The traders 
who come directly from the south, and do not wish to go as far 
as the banks of the Dhioliba, transact business in this town. 
At Tangrera an unforseen disappointment occurred to 
me. My guide, on his arrival, took care to ascertain the 
value of merchandise. He learned that at Jenne colat-nuts 
were of very little value, and he consequently determined to 
