420 
SANASSO— GARO. 
long under the tree : he told me that I had exposed myself 
to danger, for the Bambaras were not well disposed 
people ; that I must be on my guard with them, and, in 
future, if I wished to write, I must remain in my hut ; as 
for himself, he was fully persuaded that I had been writing 
grigris. In the evening our company arrived. 
On the 12th of February, at six o'clock in the morning, 
we left the superstitious inhabitants of Douasso, and pro- 
ceeded northward over a tolerably level soil, covered in 
some places with ferruginous stones and gravel. 
We proceeded four miles and a half in this same direc- 
tion. As we advanced the soil became sandy and well cul- 
tivated. The country was generally open, yet there were 
some ces and nedes, rhamnus lotus^ and nauclea. We met 
a numerous caravan from Jenne, laden with salt. This 
caravan was composed of about two hundred men, sixty 
women, and twenty-five asses. About nine o'clock in the 
morning we halted at Sanasso. From Toumare to Jenne 
wood is so scarce, that the greater part of the inhabitants 
burn millet- stubble. Sanasso is shaded by bombaces and 
baobabs. Like all Bambara villages in this region, it is 
built of bricks baked in the sun. The houses have only a 
ground-floor : they are very dirty, and surrounded with 
walls. 
On the 13th of February, at six o'clock in the morning, 
we proceeded on our journey, in a direction N. N. E. 
After advancing six miles, we crossed an extensive dry 
marsh. The country was even more open than that through 
which we had passed on the preceding day. The soil, which 
was level, consisted of grey and very hard sand. About nine 
o'clock in the morning, we stopped at Garo, a large village, 
containing from eight to nine hundred inhabitants. It is 
situated in a beautiful plain, fertile in cotton and millet. 
Round the huts tobacco is cultivated. A great market is 
held at this place. 
